Bleached to the Bone
by CTtheOrangeNinja
Summary: AU. What would happen if Ichigo had died at 9 years old? What would happen to Rukia if Ichigo had never been there to save her? There may be eventual romance, but no yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Shhhhh! It was continuous, falling over every sound, everything, everyone. Shhhhhh! The hiss muffled the sights and sounds of the street around him. Shhhhhh! A constant buzz in his ears and at the edge of his vision, the lines blurred together. He gripped tighter to his mother's hand as they walked along, her umbrella shielding the two of them from the cold water. His eyes roamed the street ahead of them, nothing seeming out-of-place, before his sight fell on a young woman standing at the river's edge. She looked like she was about to—

Ichigo ran as fast as his legs would carry him, grabbing at the woman's skirt before realizing that it was not a woman at all. He wasn't even sure that it was _human_. He could hear his mother's voice behind him, screaming, but…then it stopped. A tug pulled him into the dark waters at his feet, and he yelled in surprise before a sharp pain cut off his air supply, and he stopped swimming. Darkness surrounded him, and suddenly he could think no more.

The boy woke up in the morning, confused and feeling strangely detached. He sat up, and the accompanying tinkle made him look down in bewilderment. A short, broken chain hung from the middle of his chest, and he pulled at it uncertainly. It hurt. He let go of the chain, looking around him for his mother. She was nowhere to be seen. He stood unsteadily, and lurched forward as he remembered the pain from the previous night. A hand went to his throat, only to find it was unscarred.

He wanted to cry. But his mother hated it when he cried, told him that boys didn't cry. So he held it in and walked, back up to the street and in the direction of his home. He was surprised no one asked him where he was going. He was surprised that his family wasn't looking for him. He arrived home, pulling at the front door and opening it, walking inside.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" he yelled, looking around. He walked into the kitchen, where his family sat, still and silent. "What's wrong?" he put on his best smiled and tugged at his mother's chair. "I'm home!" She didn't budge. She didn't even look at him. He looked up at his father, more confused than ever, but was met only with a horrified stare. "Dad?" Isshin set his mouth firm and turned his eyes away, not looking at his son. He turned to Yuzu and Karin, his five-year old sisters, but only Karin was looking at him, and she looked as confused as Ichigo felt. He heard her ask "Is Ichigo coming back?" Back? He was here! Right here! "HEY!" he yelled, stomping his foot on the ground. But only Karin flinched, and suddenly it hit him.

They couldn't see him. They couldn't feel him. They couldn't hear him. At least, he was certain his mother and Yuzu couldn't, Karin only seemed to sense his presence, and his father was ignoring him. He pulled at the chain again, tears running down his face, not caring that boys didn't cry. He was dead.

Kurosaki Ichigo was dead.

Xxx

So I asked many of my followers/favorite-ers of Hollow if they would like to see a Bleach fic. And here we go! This is meant to be a Halloween special, only being written until October ends (or if not over, will continue for a short time til finished) so Hollow will be put on hold for now. As I have only seen up til the season of filler, aka season nine of Bleach, some things in future chapters might not make much sense, but I will try to hold off on them til I have watched more. I want to update almost every day, or every other day for this fic, so be watching for it. That being said, the chapters will be much shorter than my usual writings. Since this is technically published on Oct. 4th, I have 3 make-up chapters to write, as I want this story to be 31 chapters total. So some days might get double updates. Please bear with me, tell me what you think, and write reviews!


	2. Chapter 2

Life, it seemed, did not stop just because one more person was gone. No, life kept going, every day things were just a little bit brighter than the ones before, for everyone except Ichigo. He watched his family, wanting to keep close to them, wanting to somehow protect them from the pain that he had felt when he had died.

He watched as his mother struggled with her grief, he watched his father continue to ignore his prolonged existence, and he watched his sisters, following them to school somedays just to keep from being bored. Karin made an effort to talk to him, or rather, about him. It seemed she didn't want Ichigo to feel forgotten. But despite her best efforts, little by little he began to fade from conversation.

And still he lingered, feeling as though there were so many things he needed to do, so many things he hadn't gotten to experience. It made him angry, sometimes, to see that life was flowing right past him. His birthday was hard, and he sat by the river and sulked all day. A year passed, and Ichigo witnessed the anniversary of his death. His family walked to the cemetary, and he followed them, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast. He stood with them in front of his own grave, and felt a strange satisfaction in their somber attitude. They left some time later, after praying and laying flowers next to his headstone. He crouched and picked the flowers up, smiling at the thought of Yuzu and Karin picking them for him. The boy went down to the river, sitting at the edge, and tossed flower petals into the waters that had cost him everything.

His family had remembered him, but then the next few days they got back to normal. It hurt him a little, that he could be brushed aside so casually, but he bit back the tears. His birthday came around again, and that was as painful for him to watch as it was for his family to go through. So he didn't watch it at all, he wandered around town, thinking about all the things he could have been doing as an eleven-year old. It didn't help. In fact, it made him angrier.

The boy had been holding back his emotions, but today...today he just couldn't anymore. He let go of his frustration, his anger, his depression. He screamed and yelled and cried and ran, knowing that no one could see him anyway, so he didn't mind causing a fuss. He ran all the way back home, and found his family sitting at the kitchen table, talking and laughing, eating his favorite food and his having his cake for dessert. He snapped.

The power that had been hidden inside him burst forth, shrouding the boy in black, the broken chain from his chest disappearing entirely and an empty hole forming instead, leaving him feeling more empty than ever. A white mask formed over his face, red stripes running down left side, and two sharp horns curved forward. His eyes glowed unnaturally yellow, and the boy suddenly lost his hold on the shreds of his mind. His form expanded outside the house, til he crouched over it, roaring and raging about the unfairness of it all. The transformation was particularly painful, only fueling his anger. The boy-turned-monster punched his fist through the front window, reaching inside and grabbing his mother.

 _She had abandoned him. She had forgotten him. She had laughed at him, enjoying his birthday without him. She couldn't even_ see _him._

Without remorse, the creature squeezed her until she broke, eyes dark with anger. He squeezed til there was nothing left. He screamed at the world that had turned him into this.

And all the while, his father shielded his sisters from the horror, protecting them with his body, even if he could not do a thing to fight off his son. He was almost frozen with grief, his beautiful wife being killed by his own son. Desperately he wondered when the shinigami would arrive, and prayed for quick action. The powers his son held were strong, he was sure to attract attention soon. They just had to hold out until the shinigami arrived.

An inkling of danger caused the monster to turn his head, sensing some power coming for him. He roared his defiance to the incoming power, and ran towards the street, trying to escape this new foe. A human form darted after the monster, flowing hakama and zanpakuto in hand.

Isshin breathed a sigh, turning to his young daughters, and hugging them close. They wouldn't remember a thing in the morning, no, all they would know is that their mother was gone. Hit by a drunk driver, yes, that was it. She had been late in coming home and was the victim of a hit-and-run. The hole in the front wall? That was a traffic accident, nothing more. The man closed his eyes and prepared their new reality, heart beating painfully. He prayed that the shinigami would be merciful to the monster his son had become.

He turned at the edge of the park, the figure finally too close for him to ignore. Flicking his tail angrily, he slashed his claws at the tiny human-shaped being. A metallic ring as his claws struck steel, and he growled in annoyance. He swiped his other hand, feeling a moment of triumph as the shinigami didn't move quickly enough to dodge, and felt his claws rake through her body. Her scream was more than enough to let him know that she was practically done for, no longer a threat to his existence. He opened his mouth slightly, power accumulating there, forming a ball of energy ready to be fired, but a sudden blast of reiatsu threw him off balance.

Apparently, his attack was not strong enough to down the shinigami for more than a few seconds, and she had countered with her own energy. He hissed in pain and instinctively called out to the world of darkness, ripping apart the fabric of the sky and leaping towards the opening, but not before the woman had managed to slice at his mask with her zanpakuto, part of it sliding away to reveal his human face. He roared in pain and fled into the darkness, the gap sealing behind him.

The soul reaper lay bleeding and wounded on the ground, breathing heavily. For such a newly formed Hollow, this one had been unusually powerful. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing down, fighting the urge to run and hide, not liking the fact she was out in the open, but she dared not move until she had somewhat managed to stop her bleeding. She could not take this town lightly, it seemed. Her posting here would be interesting, and she wondered if she would be able to prevent more incidents like that in the future.

Yes, Kuchiki Rukia would protect this town and its people. She would protect them no matter what.

xxx

To the lovely reviewer posting under the not-name "Anonymous", I would love to be able to make these longer, but unfortunately, I have university classes to keep up with. I plan on posting regularly for this story though, so even if the chapters are not long at least they will be frequent.

To everyone who has favorited and followed, thank you so much! How encouraging to see you! Please do review, I'd love to hear you thoughts/ideas on the storyline and my writing so far.


	3. Chapter 3

The darkness was complete. It surrounded him, welcomed him, was a part of him. He breathed in, nursing his wounds as he took in his new world. It was empty, the white sands revealing nothing. Here and there, a twisted form resembling a tree would break the monotonous horizon line, but other than that...nothing.

He sat there for a while, letting the subtle flow of reiatsu heal his wounds, and the mask reformed, hiding the boy he used to be from this new world. He reached a clawed hand up and hesitated at the edge of his hole, not quite sure of what would happen if he happened to push it through. As he edged his hand forward, he slipped easily through his own body, and felt...nothing. Only a soft whisper of air flowing around his newly armored hand. He growled and removed his hand, turning his head this way and that, scanning the lifeless world.

His eyes glowed, and suddenly he found himself to be starving, a hunger unlike any he'd ever known before. He hadn't had the chance to devour his mother's soul, he was too busy killing her for that. He also wasn't given the opportunity to devour anyone else's souls, as the shinigami had quickly forced him to retreat to this place...he supposed that he now must call it 'home'. Ichigo felt his emotions twist into something like sadness, but soon the anger and hunger won out.

He could smell something below him. Claws scraped furiously at the sand, before eventually falling into the world below. He caught himself before hitting the ground, digging his claws in deep into a tree, the main trunk of the ones on the surface, it seemed. As he perched on a branch, his tail lashing back and forth, he inhaled deeply the air of this underworld. He could definitely sense and smell others like him down here, and his mouth watered at the thought of a fresh kill. Pushing himself off the branch, he leapt to the forest floor, and went on the hunt.

XXX

She considered the idea that she might bleed out as a very real possibility. The Hollow's claws had cut her open in a number of places on her body, but the adrenaline earlier had kept her moving and fighting. Now however, she lay still, aware that her blood flow was slowing down, albeit slowly.

Footsteps made her open her eyes, and the familiar green-and-white striped hat brought a sigh to her lips. _This man._ It was unclear what his motives were, and Rukia had no reason to trust him, but she couldn't afford not to, either. "Kuchiki-san, you seem like you're in a bit of a predicament." the man fanned himself slowly, and Rukia rolled her eyes slightly. "I could help you, you know." That caught her interest.

"What-what would you require of me in return, Urahara-san?" she grit out, already planning on having to give something up, whether it be gossip or free work.

"A...future investment is all I'm asking. Consider, for instance, for your stationing here. All I ask is that you should remain to be posted here, and in four years you will do some rsearch for me." something in his tone made her skeptical, but what else could she do? She was in no shape to turn the man down.

"What kind of research?"

The man chuckled. "That's for you to discover in four years' time."

She sighed, really in no position to turn him down. "Fine. I accept. I can't promise that my captain will have me posted here for that long, but I will be back in four years for your sake."

The fan snapped shut, revealing a grin that made Rukia wince. "Excellent!" he turned and called off behind him, somewhere that she couldn't see. "It'll just be a moment."

She closed her eyes and drifted off, trusting that Urahara would take care of her. Before she knew it, she was out.

Rukia awoke the next morning feeling constricted and claustrophobic, but she could tell she was at least no longer bleeding. As she stretched, she felt her 'body' adjusting to her movements. _Ah. A gigai._ That must've been what Urahara was talking about, his 'help'. This gigai felt so lifelike, and getting up, she looked into the mirror at a perfect copy of herself. Strangely, she could feel her powers recuperating, but the beating must have taken more out of her than she previously thought: she wasn't sure she had enough reaitsu to even open a gate back to Sereitei. She sighed and straightened her hair, knowing it would be at least a week before she had enough power to report back in Soul Society.

The shinigami walked out into the main room of Urahara's shop, finding the man and his employees seated around a table. "Ah, Kuchiki-san, I wondered when you would get up. Tessai has made breakfast, join us."

"Yeah, join us, free-loader-san." the red-haired boy snickered, earning him a smack from the man's fan.

"Kuchiki-san is not a freeloader. She will be doing valuable research for us at the highschool."

"High school?" Rukia murmured, smoothing her hair down even further.

The man nodded, eyes glinting at Rukia from beneath his hat. "Yes, that's what you will be doing for me in four years. Inflitrating the highschool. " he set his fan aside, and motioned for her to sit next to him. She did so, and Tessai, the large man with the glasses, set a plate of food before her. As she ate, she listened to Urahara's explanation of her research, something involving an unusual spiritual activity from some students at the middle school, but were too young yet to have any real power. In four years, when all of them ended up at the same highschool, she was to befriend them, and see if they perhaps needed training.

Clear on her assigned task, Rukia spent the next week getting her powers back before reporting in to Seireitei. Her captain seemed pleased with her work, but when she asked to be stationed for four years, he had frowned. Ukitake was not a difficult captain, but a request like this was...odd. However, it seemed that her short time in the living world had granted the young shinigami some confidence, and Karakura town would be in need of a soul reaper if he had her moved. So he granted the request, and Kuchiki Rukia was the stationed shinigami for quite some time, defeating Hollows and reporting back to Soul Society on a regular basis.

Fours years passed, and Rukia honored her agreement with Urahara Kisuke, explaining to her captain that she expected to be gone for quite some time this mission, and he had agreed. She entered the living world and went straight to Urahara, who presented her with the same gigai he had let her borrow four years ago. She still marveled at its lifelike appearance and feel. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn she was human again.

The next morning Rukia headed to the school. She had been told that the memories of the faculty and staff had been altered already, that Kuchiki Rukia was a transfer student starting today. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and sighed, nothing back in Soul Society could have prepared her for _this_.

Urahara was right to have interest in the students from the middle school. Now that they were high schoolers, their powers were beginning to attract Hollows, and now that they were older they might be ready for training. From just her first day she could sense that at least two of them had untapped potential, Yasutora Sado and Inoue Orihime being the strongest in terms of hidden ability. Then there was Ishida Uryu, a human with an uncanny amount of reiatsu. She had heard of the Quincy, of course, but had believed them all to be dead. This Ishida must surely be the last Quincy alive, or at the very least, the last one practicing. She could tell just by looking at him that the boy was somewhat trained, and had an even greater potential than his two classmates.

But thier attitude to her...that would be harder to deal with. Sado, or Chad, she heard his friends call him, was quiet, stoic, and basically unapproachable. The girl, Orihime was kind enough, even inviting Rukia to eat with her and her friends, but she seemed somewhat off...even to a soul reaper that had no idea what the customs were in the world of the living. And Ishida? He was the worst of them all, refusing to even acknowledge Rukia's existence, and keeping to himself even among the humans. Rukia recalled the hatred of shinigami by the Quincy, but thought that surely the boy couldn't have had any interaction with soul reapers before, so what had so tainted his view of them? It only made her want to know more, but it would be difficult to even get the boy to speak with her, especially if he could tell she was a shinigami in a gigai.

Rukia had her work cut out for her.

XXX

So I realized that there was a continuity error on my part, and it may have caused some confusion. I know it was confusing for me to figure out what the problem was! So, just to be clear:

Ichigo underwent Hollow transformation at age 11.

Rukia discussed her deal with Kisuke at this time.

4 years later Rukia has honored her deal, this would be when Ichigo is 15 years old, and technically the main storyline of Bleach starts here.

Hope that clears things up!


	4. Chapter 4

The shinigami leapt away from the clearing in alarm. Her gigai was not strong enough to handle all the incoming Hollows. Stupid Quincy. For whatever reason he had felt the need to lure them to Karakura town, despite her best efforts to convince him not to pick a fight with her.

Rukia cursed Urahara under her breath, this gigai restricted her powers greatly, and she couldn't even get out of it fast enough to be able to draw her zanpakuto. Instead she focused on using her kido, knowing that she couldn't just let the Hollows wander around freely. The Quincy had disappeared, running off and taunting her over his shoulder. God, she hated that boy right now.

Her thoughts turned to Chad and Inoue as she kept blasting the Hollows that seemed to appear out of thin air. They had eventually warmed up to her, after a month of hanging around them at school, and she had convinced them to go through with training. However, they still weren't quite powerful enough to do much good against the horde of monsters. She had instructed them to pair up, trusting that they would each work better if someone covered their back.

But Ishida? Not friendly by a long shot. In fact, before his actions today, he had spoken to her exactly once. And that was just to tell her to stay out of his way. She sighed as a moment of peace befell the clearing, before heading to another part of town riddled with the creatures. She caught sight of the Quincy, effortlessly firing reiatsu arrows into the Hollows, and winced at the thought of all the souls lost to Soul Society with each one he destroyed. But there was no helping it, the living souls of the town came first.

Everything was going fine until the sky split almost in two and the spiritual pressure fell upon her shoulders as if it was going to crush her. She looked up in shock, there was no mistaking the giant form stepping through the rip. "A Menos Grande..." she whispered, heart sinking. There was no way she could handle that in this state, and she knew for a fact that Ishida couldn't either. She cast a glance in his direction, and saw him visibly pale as he struggled to fire his bow at the giant Hollow. The arrows merely glanced off its black form, making it roar in anger. There was something different about this Menos, however... weren't they all supposed to look like the ones from the books back at Soul Society?

xxx

It had taken him several years to amass this much power. His hunger had been great, and he had eaten as many of his fellows that dared to get close to him. It hadn't been enough, he had searched for more. The second transformation was not nearly as painful as the first had been, and somehow he had retained his mind during the merging of Hollow souls. He was still Ichigo, even if the boy he had once been was gone.

When his prey had suddenly all gone missing he followed them, finding a tear in the fabric of darkness where light of a blue sky peeked through. He remembered the blue sky. Everything in Hueco Mundo was devoid of color, save for the dull flashes that sometimes marked a Hollow's mask. His own mask had shifted in his transformation, losing the horns and the stripes narrowing to thin lines under his left eye. He pulled at the edges of darkness, seeking that blue sky and any food he could get his claws on.

He stepped though slowly, feeling a prickle of discomfort as someone shot him with reaitsu. He roared at them, quailing them into fear. With a shock, he recognized his old hometown, and the anger from his past rekindled into a blaze. He opened his mouth, a Cero forming there, big enough to wipe out a good portion of the town when a searing pain tore across his chest.

He screamed in shock as he felt his body threatening to tear open, and his eyes found the form of a man glaring defiantly at him, standing in the sky as if he were on solid ground. His robe flapped behind him in the wind, and the look in his eye was menacing from underneath the green-and-white hat. Convinced that this would be more trouble than it was worth, Ichigo pulled himself back into the darkness, the gap sealing in front of him as he did so.

He growled in annoyance, the reishi flowing around him and healing his wound. He was lucky to have escaped with his life, yet again. Turning his head, the Menos lumbered off in search of easier prey.

xxx

Urahara Kisuke sheathed his zanpukto back inside his cane with ease, looking over his shoulder at Rukia and Ishida. The boy was still in shock, and Rukia looked like she might fall over with just a breath of wind. He sighed, pulling his hat down over his eyes. This wasn't going as well as he had hoped.

Rukia sank to her knees, staring at Urahara who jumped down to the ground. "Wh-why did it look like that?" she asked, voice trembling. Not only had it looked different from the Menos in pictures, it had also carried an immense spiritual pressure. She was terrified that there could be a new Hollow species to worry about.

Urahara shook his head slightly, keeping his eyes on the Quincy boy. "There's no easy explanation. It could be just a mutation, or it could be forming into something even more powerful."

 _More powerful than a Menos Grande?_ Rukia shuddered, pulling her arms in close. "Urahara-san. Thank you."

He nodded, before walking over to the Quincy. "So Ishida-kun, will you accept the offer of training that Kuchiki-san proposed now?" he flipped out his fan and fanned his face slowly.

The boy blinked, seemingly come back to himself, before nodding slowly. "I still...I still hate shinigami." he muttered, to which Kisuke only smiled. "But...I admit that I need more training."

"Perfect." Urahara grinned at him, turning to face the kneeling shinigami. "Do you hear that, Kuchiki-san? Ishida-kun will join Sado-kun and Orihime-chan in training." his eyes flashed back to the boy. "But, I believe that you should handle him yourself, and let Yoruichi-san train the other two."

Rukia nodded slowly, wincing as she got to her feet. She walked towards Urahara and Ishida, offering her hand to the Quincy. "Truce? For now?' she added quietly.

"For now." he muttered, clasping her hand and quickly dropping it again.

She threw a sharp look towards Urahara, who looked to all the world like the cat who got the cream. _Just what was he planning?_


	5. Chapter 5

She started to get worried when she could no longer manage to separate from the gigai without the use of a sanrei glove or Urahara's cane. And also considering the fact that neither of those two items were used on her except for very rare occasions, she was really starting to get paranoid. She had been in the living world too long. She almost felt like she was a part of it, and she knew she wasn't supposed to be.

So when two strong familiar spiritual pressures appeared in the middle of the night, Rukia could almost breathe a sigh of relief. She had been trying to keep in touch with her captain, of course, but now she was sure she would be able to get back home: Byakuya wouldn't leave her here, not if he was under orders to get her back. And Renji...Renji would never leave her anywhere, that she was sure of, even if she had left him.

It had been a month since the Menos incident, a month that she had used to help the Quincy boy train. A month longer than she had ever intended to stay, and now she was getting in trouble for it. That meant that she had been 3 months in the living world, trapped in a gigai that felt like it was moulding to her soul more and more every day.

They knocked politely on the door to Urahara's shop, for that she was grateful. The man had done nothing wrong, persay, and she didn't wish trouble on him. She dressed quickly, grabbing the sanrei glove and walking outside to greet her brother and his lieutenant. To her surprise, she also found Ishida perched on a nearby roof, staring silently at the two new shinigami. She gave him a small smile, if a little saddened to be leaving him. Urahara would have to cover the remainder of his training.

Steeling herself for the worst, she faced Kuchiki Byakuya and Abrai Renji with a heavy heart. "Nii-sama. Renji." she greeted them politely, bowing at the waist ever so slightly. "I assume you've come to take me back to Seireitei." It was not a question.

The red-haired shinigami nodded, one hand resting on the top of his zanpakuto, and Rukia held back a shiver. "Kuchiki Rukia, you have spent far too long in the world of the living and are ordered back to Soul Society at once. You will also be put on suspension as well as review."

She nodded, accepting the sentence with an inner sigh of relief. It could have been so much worse. She could have had the threat of execution hanging over her head. "Of course. I must ask that you use this," she held out the glove to Renji, "for it has become increasingly difficult to remove this gigai."

From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green, and Urahara Kisuke was leaning against the doorframe. "What distinguished visitors we have. So late at night, too." he flicked the fan back and forth from hand to hand, and Rukia felt a twinge of unease at his demeanor. She watched as her brother continued to ignore everyone, merely standing looking bored.

Renji huffed and took the glove from her hand, slipping it on quickly and shoving it towards her without any warning. She felt a wrench as her soul was ripped from the gigai, feeling like it was tearing her in half. She fell backwards, breathing heavily and wincing at the feeling of detachment. She got to her feet slowly, and felt rather than saw Urahara's dark gaze on her back.

She took a step forward, flinging out an arm to catch herself as she stumbled. Renji caught her, and his eyes softened. He held her gently, and she couldn't even describe the feelings of warmth that came forward. Her eyes flicked to her brother, who had watched them silently, before turning his back on them and opening the gate back to Seireitei. 3 hell butterflies fluttered towards them, and Rukia leaned heavily on Renji's arm as they prepared to head home. She threw one glance back at Urahara and Ishida, before silently promising to herself that she would see them again. And the gate closed behind her.

xxx

Ukitake was waiting for them on the other side, looking pale and sickly. She felt a twinge in her heart, her captain had come to see her return even though he was sick. It must've been his own decision, for the two third-seats were hovering over him like hummingbirds over a flower. She let a small smile grace her features, and her captain nodded back. "Welcome home, Rukia." his voice was warm as always, if there was a slight tremble due to his illness. He faced Byakuya and Renji and dipped his head. "Thank you for brining my squad member home. Your services have been appreciated." it was a clear dismissal, and her brother and Renji flash-stepped away.

Rukia stood awkwardly, resisting the urge to shuffle her feet, and Ukitake sighed. "It is late. We will speak of your sentence tomorrow, Kuchiki-kun. " He cast a glance towards his squabbling third-seats and sighed again. "I trust you can still find your way home?" he asked her, before walking past the couple who then tagged along behind him.

She winced, yes, she knew the way home. But home meant that she would have to face her brother, and she had no idea what was in store for her on that front. She gripped the front of her hakama tightly, as if twisting the fabric would help relieve her stres.

When she entered the Kuchiki Manor, all was silent. She walked to her brother's quarters, awkwardly fingering the hilt of her zanpakuto before being granted admittance. She knelt in the room, watching her brother's back, and waited for him to say something. "..." Byakuya glanced at her, and she flinched. "You will not be permitted outside Seireitei for some time."

"I know, nii-sama." she kept her eyes downcast, and bit her lip in frustration.

"Then, if you know, leave me."

She nodded, bowing, before hurrying out and into the cool night air. At least she had gotten away without a harsh lecture.

She found her way to her own bed, and promptly fell asleep, dreaming of Hollows and Quincies and, for some reason, bright orange hair...


	6. Chapter 6

The birdsong woke her in the morning, alerting her to the start of a new day. Rukia stretched, finally having had a good night's sleep, not having to be worried about Hollow attacks, not fretting over Ishida's traning, not yearning for the peace of Soul Society.

She dressed quickly, and hurried over to Divison 13, meeting Ukitake there. He nodded to her, before they made their way to the Head Captain's meeting hall. She was, apparently, to receive her sentence in front of all 13 captains, so that they would be informed as to what she was allowed to be doing, and to be able to hunt her down if need be. She didn't think that that would be necessary.

It did make her nervous to be put in front of so many powerful people all at once, and to reprimanded in front of them was even worse. Rukia caught Ukitake's eye as she stood in the center of the two lines of captains, and he gave her sympathetic smile. She resisted the urge to fidget, aware that her brother would not approve. So she stood still, eyes set ahead, and waited.

The head captain finally walked in, and stood in front of her, leaning on his cane in a gesture that reminded her of Urahara. "We all know why we're here. Kuchiki Rukia. For your prolonged stay in the world of the living, going against law, your punishment has been decided." he paused, as if for dramatic effect, and the shinigami bit her lip in frustration. _Just get on with it._ "You are not permitted to leave Seireitei for any reason until your sentence of six months has been carried out, and your position as a member of the Court Guards is now being put under review. If you carry out your duties here faithfully and your sentence without misconduct, then you shall not lose your place in Division 13."

She bowed, silently thanking Ukitake. She knew that he would have argued the hardest against any kind of harsher punishment, especially since she had been reporting in the whole time she was gone. She heard, "Dismissed," and straightened up, breathing a little easier. Rukia walked out, pushing her hand through her hair and belatedly turning back to look for her captain. The white-haired man was deep in conversation with Kyoraku-taicho, and she smiled, shaking her head. She turned once again to leave, before running into a white-cloaked back.

"I-I'm so sorry." she stammered, looking up into the warm brown eyes of the captain of Division 5. "Aizen-taicho," she gasped, face flushing. Aizen Sosuke smiled down at her, before shaking his head.

"Walk with me, Kuchiki-kun." he strode confidently away, leaving Rukia blinking and scrambling to catch up. What could he possibly want with her?

It turned out that all he wanted to do was talk. He walked with her, talked with her, listened to her experiences in the human world. He questioned after the human with spiritual abilities, taking a special interest in the girl Orihime's power. The whole time she felt flattered that this man, kind-hearted and warm and strong, would even take the time to talk with her. Sometime during their conversation, she wondered where he had even gotten the information about her doings in the living world, but figured that Ukitake must have told the charming captain at some point.

The sun went down at some point, and Rukia finally became aware of their surroundings. Aizen had walked with her the whole afternoon and into the early evening, it seemed, and she felt a twinge of guilt at having talked the man's day away. Looking around, they were in a secluded wooded area of Seireitei, and she felt a flash of panic. She didn't recognize this place at all. She didn't know where they were. She turned to Aizen, opening her mouth to ask him the way back into the main part of Seireitei when she felt something hit her in the chest, hard.

Rukia blinked in surprise at the reiatsu-bladed hand that was suddenly sticking out of her chest, and lurched forward, grabbing onto the arm that the hand belonged to. She looked up, brow furrowed in confusion, staring into Aizen's eyes. "Wha-?" she choked, coughing up some blood as she tried to speak.

"I'm sorry, Kuchiki. Really, I am. But Urahara thought he could keep this from me, just by keeping you in a gigai?" the hand was pulled out suddenly, and Rukia collapsed on the ground, finally the pain had overcome the shock factor. The soul reaper groaned, turning her head to stare up at Aizen. He was holding...something. Something he didn't have before. That had been _inside_ her? "Thank you for all the useful information, Kuchiki."

She winced, and watched as the man pocketed the item, before turning his back on her. A flicker of motion, and the two captains Gin and Tousen appeared. "All set?" the silver-haired man asked, tilting his head. "You just going to leave her here like this?"

Aizen snorted, removing his glasses and running a hand through his hair. "Everything is in accordance. She'll bleed out before anyone even notices we're gone." Her vision started to blur, and she feared the traitor might be right about that. Using the last of her energy, she called a hell butterfly and tried to send it to Ukitake.

"I don't think so." she heard the calm murmur of Captain Tousen, and watched helplessly as the butterfly was cut in two.

"We're leaving now." she heard Aizen say, and witnessed a bright light shining on each of the three captains, before they disappeared from her line of sight.

She drew in a shaky breath, and flipped herself over, letting out a short scream in pain. She pressed the heel of her palm against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but to no noticeable effect.

The last thing she knew was that darkness had fallen, though whether it was the end of the day or the end of her life she could not say.


	7. Chapter 7

He growled when the darkness opened in front of him and felt three powerful spiritual pressures materialize in his territory. The adjuchas shook his head menacingly, his horns back once again with the transformation from his gillian state. He had also developed a thick white armor, covering his bull-esque body from mask to clubbed-tail. Up here on the surface, he rarely got into fights with anyone, but would defend his territory fiercely if threatened. Oh, and eat them. He would eat whoever dared to step foot in 'his territory'. Sometimes that territory extended to wherever he happened to be wandering that day. He would eat whatever stumbled his way.

Yellow eyes narrowed to slits when he saw that it was three shinigami that stepped through the air. They had no business here. He opened his mouth to form a cero, when a cold look from the brown-haired one stopped him in his tracks. He blinked, snapping his jaw shut and shaking his head back and forth slowly. Ichigo knew that he was not in any way, shape, or form strong enough to take this man down. Lowering his head, he struggled to form words. It had been so long since he had spoken to anyone. "Sh-shinigami." he spoke, voice rough and low from having not been used. "Wh-what is your business here?"

The silver-haired man tilted his head towards him, chuckling, and Ichigo felt a surge of rage before the blind man's movement caught his eye. He stiffened as he saw him reach towards his zanpakuto, and tensed his muscles, preparing himself for a fight. But then the brown-haired man spoke, and his head swung towards him. "Now, now, that is no way for either of you to treat our new brother." _Brother?_ Ichigo shook his head in confusion, and swept his tail across the sand behind him. "Do you have a name, adjuchas?"

He frowned, debating on whether it was a good idea to trust this shinigmai. However...they were standing here in front of him, in Hueco Mundo, and being way too calm for it to be a trap. "Kurosaki...Ichigo." he muttered, emotions swirling inside his head like a raging storm.

The man merely smiled, and dipped his head. "Aizen Sosuke." Ichigo felt a tremor pass through him. This shinigami was holding something back, and that was dangerous. But he dare not cross him, not now at his current level of strength. "These are my companions. Ichimaru Gin," the silver-haired man nodded, "and Tousen Kaname." the other nodded as well, removing his hand from his zanpakuto.

Ichigo clenched one clawed hand into a fist. "So...Aizen-san. What is your business here?" the man had still not answered his question, and he was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

A smile crept onto the shinigami's face, and the adjuchas repressed a shudder. _Something_ was off about him, something that even a Hollow like himself could sense. "Why, to destroy Soul Society, of course. And to eventually rule the world." He had not been expecting _that_. His tail flicked uncertainly, and he shuffled his feet. The man laughed slightly, watching him intensely. "And you know what, Kurosaki?" his head snapped up at his name. "I think you could be of great use to me." his yellow eyes narrowed and he felt the beginnings of a snarl form in his chest when the man stepped closer to him, eyes dark, smile wide. "How does more power sound, brother?"

The thought of ruling Hueco Mundo flashed briefly through his mind, and he knew that his decision was set. He felt his own grin form in return, and he practically purred, "I think that sounds like a deal, Boss."

"Excellent."

xxx

Renji had found her first. He hadn't been looking for her, not really, but the garganta suddenly appearing in the middle of Seireitei had thrown everyone into a panic, not knowing if them were being attacked or not. He had flash-stepped towards the area where the light had come from, and had instead discovered Rukia, out cold and laying a pool of her own blood. Of course he had flipped out, forgetting about the garganta and whatever Hollows might be around in order to take care of her.

He had scooped her into his arms carefully, wincing at the lightness of her body and the coldness of her skin. Her reaitsu was greatly diminished, even compared to the day before when he had forcefully removed her from the gigai. He flash-stepped to Division Four's headquarters, calling for help. Some kid named Hanataro-something-or-other had appeared before seeing the limp form of Rukia and squawking, running off to find the captain. When Unohana came down, Rukia was taken from his arms and immediately the healing was started. She tossed him a look over her shoulder, and Renji frowned, staying put.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, watching the woman work her powers over Rukia's still form. Finally she leaned back, wiping her brow with a towel someone handed her, probably that Hanataro, and motioned for him to sit down next to her. He knelt next to her awkwardly, hands wringing in his lap. "She's very lucky that you found her." the woman's voice flowed over him. "Any longer and she wouldn't have made it. I have healed the worst of her injuries, but it will take time for her to fully recover, probably the entire length of her sentence." Renji nodded, mouth set in a firm line. He suspected as much. Rukia had already been weak, and such a direct attack on her body was more than enough to keep her out of duty for a while. "Do you know who did this?" she asked calmly, laying a hand on his shoulder lightly.

"N-no." he squeezed his eyes shut, holding back tears. "I found her in the same area as the garganta appeared in."

The woman nodded, looking thoughtful. "I didn't find any traces of a Hollow's reaitsu, so I suspect it must have been one of our own."

That made Renji's head jerk up in shock. One of their own? But... "But then...who?"

Unohana shook her head. "I cannot say, but..." she was cut off by the appearance of a hell butterfly, and she let it land on her outstretched finger. Her eyes widened, and Renji braced himself for even worse news. "Captains Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen are gone. Disappeared from Soul Society from the same area as the garanta." he frowned, before a thought hit him in the chest.

"Do...do you think one of them..." he couldn't even say it.

"...that's the only possible explanation." he heard the Division Four captain mutter.

 _Just what in the world was going on?_


	8. Chapter 8

Terrible, ripping, agonizing, pain. It shot through his whole body as the cells restructured themselves once again, this time not out of his own doing but from that man's. From the device he had shown him. A device that supposedly contained enough power to wipe out Soul Society. Aizen had called it...Hogyoku. Yes, that was it. But Ichigo shuddered at the immense power of the thing, certain that it had enough power to do as Aizen said. He had no arguments against him, not anymore, not after this pain that was only a fraction of the thing's awakened potential. He screamed and writhed, feeling his form shrink down to a smaller size, his tail retracting into his body, his claws shortening to sharp nails. He felt his mask stretch and pop back into place, before crumbling partially away, revealing a recognizable face that he wasn't used to seeing, not since the incident nearly four years ago.

When the thing stopped shooting beams of energy into him, he still felt the effects of the pain spreading throughout his new form. Everything ached and felt stretched to its limits, and he found himself missing his tail, wishing he could show his emotions through the constant back-and-forth movement of its lashing. He growled, the resonance sounded lighter than his adjuchas form, and left him feeling like he just needed to beat the crap out of something. Or someone. His glance darted to where the shinigami stood, observing his 'experiment' with an intrigued expression.

He snarled and glared at Aizen through his 'new' eyes. It was his idea to cause this pain, his idea to experiment on Ichigo's body, his device that had caused him to feel like he was experiencing a second death. But when the pain faded to a manageable ache, he felt his eyes get wide. His reaitsu. He could feel his power pulsating around him, dark and threatening, and a sword materialized at his side, which he instinctively knew was his zanpakuto, Zangestsu. His _zanpakuto_.

The absurdity of it all hit him suddenly, and he threw his head back and laughed maniacally. He stepped in front of the mirror, marveling at his skin, his hair, his clothes. He hadn't felt this... _human_ , in a long, long time. He hadn't looked it, either. Ichigo touched the remainder of his mask lightly, it covered the left side of his face, from his forehead, over his left eye, stopping at the bottom of his nose. The red stripes were as visible as ever, three slashing down from his fore head and two curving under his eye. The marks were mimicked in red under his unmasked right eye, and Ichigo wondered at them, he hadn't had marks on his skin before. He couldn't believe that he could actually look into a mirror and see his own face staring back at him, though. He turned towards Aizen, forgetting his anger, a grin lighting his features.

The former shinigami smiled back at him, before nodding over his shoulder at Gin. The silver-haired man stepped close to Ichigo, and yanked the white hakama off his left shoulder. The arrancar opened his mouth in protest, when he felt a searing burn bite into his flesh. He hissed in surprise, trying to pull away, but Gin held him steady. He closed his eyes tightly, Gin's fingers holding him firmly in place as he continued to sear into his new flesh. Finally, it seemed, the deed was done, and Ichigo yanked himself free.

"What did you do?" he growled, yellow eyes narrowing at the silver in suspicion. Craning his neck to look into the mirror at his shoulder, he let out a harsh gasp. His eyes widened in surprise at the mark there, and he whipped his head around to face Aizen. "You-you..."

Aizen merely smirked at him, nodding, running a hand through his hair. "You have more than enough reiatsu to be considered Espada, Ichigo. And as my first successful experiment... I believe that numbering was well in order. This one suits you quite well. The member who wore it before I arrived has been...demoted. I trust you will serve me accordingly."

He reached his right hand up to trace the number 5 lightly with his fingers, biting his lip as he did so. "Of course, Boss."

xxx

Urahara Kisuke was not a man to be taken lightly. He had possessed good reason to keep Kuchiki Rukia in the human world, inhabiting the gigai he had designed specifically for her. He was only trying to keep the Hogyoku out of enemy hands, and yet…it hadn't succeeded. That was part of his reasoning to leave Soul Society, they just tended to make things worse.

Still… Aizen Sosuke. Urahara sighed and pulled his hat down over his eyes. To think that the enemy would be a captain in the 13 court guard. Not only that, but that he had convinced two other captains to join him. And to what purpose? It wasn't like Aizen actually thought he could manage to rule Hueco Mundo and destroy Seireitei, did he?

He tapped his cane against the ground and looked up as the Quincy boy came into view. Following behind him were Chad and Orihime, and Urahara frowned. This wouldn't be easy news to break to the kids. Rukia had become their friend in the three months she had trained with them, and he suspected that Ishida might have even developed a crush on her.

He tipped his hat to the humans, and motioned for them to sit. Ishida glared at him, "What is this all about, Urahara-san?" Chad crossed his arms and Orihime looked nervous as well. So they could tell something was off…

He gave them a sad smile and braced himself for the inevitable round of questions: "Kuchiki Rukia has been gravely injured upon her return to Soul Society. She will not be returning to the living world anytime soon."

Chad sat in silence. That was to be expected. Orihime looked like she was going to cry, and was holding back the tears. Ishida looked angry, and confused. "There's something you're not telling us." He hissed. "Who would have hurt her in Soul Society? Who would have had a reason to?"

He resisted the urge to pull out his fan and hide his face behind it, instead looking each one of them in the eyes. "A captain named Aizen Sosuke was the attacker. His purpose was to steal a very powerful item that was hidden within Kuchiki-san's soul. An item I was hoping to keep safe by turning Kuchiki-san into a human."

Orihime let the tears bubble over and clung to Chad's shoulder, who was still silent. Ishida slammed his hands on the table and leaned towards Kisuke, his voice rising. "What do you mean an item _you_ wanted to keep safe? What do you mean 'turn her human'?! So this is all _your_ fault?!"

Urahara sighed, pulling out his fan and flicking it open. "Technically this would be the Soul Society's fault, as I had been keeping a close eye on the item and Rukia while they were within my jurisdiction." The Quincy continued to glare daggers at him, and Kisuke wanted to slap some sense into the boy. But he didn't dare. There was a more pressing problem on their hands. "I know you are all upset, but Kuchiki-san will recover. Right now I need you three to focus. There's a new enemy in Karakura."

That calmed the boy down, as he recognized the seriousness in Urahara's tone. "What- what is it?" the Quincy murmured, pushing his glasses up. Chad and Orihime looked at him expectantly, and he sighed once more.

"Bounts."

XXX

So sorry about not having this up yesterday! That means there will be a double-posting today, but I have some other things to do as well, so it will be later than this one!


	9. Chapter 9

"Bounts?" the orange-haired girl blinked at him, wide-eyed. Kisuke leaned back from the table, fanning himself slowly and nodding. Ishida frowned, mouth opening to speak, then thought better of it, and closed it. Chad continued to sit silently.

 _How to explain this?_ He snapped his fan shut and tossed it from hand to hand, thinking. "Bounts are...a sort of mutation of the human gene. They call themselves a tribe, much like the Quincy." he glanced in Ishida's direction, and found that the boy was staring intently at the table. He sighed, shaking his head. "The Bounts have almost immortal life-spans, though they are being hunted down by the shinigami. They have been referred to as 'vampires' in the past, but that's not quite accurate. In reality, Bounts eat the souls of humans, usually going after 'easy' prey such as souls that have already left the body, but lately..." he trailed off, eyes narrowing. "Lately there has been an increase in Bount activity, involving the act of consuming live human souls. You can imagine what this does to the living body."

Orihime covered her mouth in shock, and blinked. Chad grunted and uncrossed his arms, his hands clenching into fists. Ishida narrowed his eyes and stared straight ahead. "...So they're here." Kisuke's eyes darted to Chad, this being the first thing the boy had spoken this whole time they had been sitting there. He nodded once, confirming their suspicions.

" I have created three mod souls with the ability to sense Bounts. I-" he stopped, seeing confused looks on each of their faces. "What?"

The girl frowned, and glancing at her companions, she shrugged. "What's a mod soul?"

Oh. "A modified soul. I forgot how little you three actually know, given your spiritual abilities." he bit his lip, pushing his hat back from his face. "A modified soul can be used for combat, scouting, or just to hold a gigai while the shinigami is away. These three function as Bount sensors, and also have a few combat abilites. I introduce to you: Ririn, Noba, and Kurodo." The screen behind him shifted open, and the three mod-souls saluted the teens.

"Ririn! I specialize in illusions!" the blonde girl waved.

The tall man bowed at the waist, his two-tone hair falling into his face."Kurodo. I can transform into any likeness and mimic their abilites!"

"Noba. Inter-dimensional portals." a hand reached up to zip his mask across his eyes.

Kisuke huffed with annoyance. _I thought I told them to act..normal._ "Each of you has been assigned one of the mod-souls. Orihime-chan, Ririn is with you." the blonde squealed, and Orihime laughed nervously. "Sado-kun, Noba is with you." Noba unzipped his mask to nod at Chad. Urahara smiled inwardly, _oh the irony_. "So Ishida-kun, Kurodo is with you." the Quincy paled visibly, and the mod-soul flinched, slouching slightly.

He expected an outburst from Ishida, but none came. So maybe he is maturing, after all. He shook his head and flicked his fan back open. "You are to be on alert for the Bounts at all times, but you are not to seek them out. That would be more trouble than it's worth." he shot a glance towards Ishida and Ririn, knowing the two of them to be the most likely to ignore that. Which was exactly why he didn't partner them up. That and they were of the opposite sex, which would make the two of them rooming together awkward to say the least, and even if Ririn was a gigai...he grimaced and pushed the thought away. "And-" whatever he was about to say was cut short when a loud crash accompanied a black-clothed form falling through the ceiling and landing on the table.

"Ow ow ow..." the shinigami sat up, rubbing the back of his head and glaring up at the broken ceiling. He turned to face Kisuke, brow furrowed. "You should really get your shop inspected. Crappy roof couldn't even hold my weight."

Kisuke's brow twitched and he smacked the intruder on the nose with his fan. Then, realizing that everyone was staring at the two of them, he chuckled nervously. "Ah...Everyone. This is-"

"Abarai Renji." he was cut off again, the shinigami getting to his feet and standing up on the table. "Lieutenant of Division 6 of the 13 Court Guards of Seireitei." the red-haired man glanced around at all the unfamiliar faces. "Pleased to meet you all."

Kisuke sighed, defeated.

xxx

He kept his eyes on the other arrancar seated around the table. He wasn't used to behaving civilly around other Hollows, much less around potential threats. But the Espada were forbidden from attacking each other, unless it was just to spar. Their numbers were from 10 to 1, or 9 to 0, depending on the circumstances. At number 5, Ichigo held a middle position, and he was just fine with that, for now. It wasn't worth getting into trouble with Aizen, and in the meantime he could focus on training and building up more power in secret. He was, after all, going to rule Hueco Mundo himself.

His biggest threat within the Espada, he figured, were two members: one right underneath him and the one right above him. The Sexta, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, had a notoriously short temper, and was always picking fights with Ichigo. He didn't mind, he considered sparring with the blue-haired man to be valuable training, and the thrill he got from it was worth it. Grimmjow was the closest thing he could get to entertainment, so he took whatever the Sexta could dish out. The Cuatro though...

His yellow eyes darted to Ulquiorra, and he found emerald eyes staring back. Snarling, he looked away, the man's dead stare was enough to get his blood boiling. Something about him was just _too_ distant, _too_ cold, _too_ cruel. He didn't know Cifer in any past forms, but something told him that the man hadn't even _started out_ as a human soul. But he was pretty sure Grimmjow wasn't human either, so why did only Ulquiorra give him the creeps?

Number Nine creeped him out too, though, if he was being honest. The two suspended heads were just freaky, and worse was that fake covering of flesh that resembled him in pretty much every way but hair color. Eight-Nnoitra was perverted, but not creepy, and Seven- Syazel didn't really bother him at all, just frustrated him that someone like that could even make Espada. Numbers 3, 2, and 1 he had never made any effort to talk to, feeling outclassed and not ready to make such a powerful enemy but saying something he shouldn't. 10 or 0, Yammy, was probably the easiest to get along with and just hang out with, other than his tendency to blow things up, but calling him a friend?-no, he didn't think so.

No, Ichigo had no friends. He was used to that though. He wasn't sure why he had thought it might change with his transformation into an arrancar, but somewhere deep he had been hoping. Which was unsettling: Hollows like him didn't feel hope. There was no hope for him.

Right?

XXX

As promised, here is today's chapter. Please review, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my writing, storyline, etc. However, if your review is "I like whisky" or something else not relevant to the story, I will be inclined to remove it. So...it's pretty obvious by now that I have cut the things that I didn't deem important to the story. I love Kon to death, but he just doesn't fit in anywhere just yet. We might see an appearance later on, I haven't decided. I know that the Bount arc can be considered filler, as it is only found in the anime, but I actually really liked it, as it adressed the question of both Ichigo and Ishida struggling with inner demons. That being said, we don't see Ichigo in this position here, and Ishida has an easier job with the fact he never lost his powers in the first place. I hope, though, that this will still make sense in the end, and that it is fun to read. This is mainly for character-building of Ishida, Chad, and Inoue, as we didn't see any of that in Soul Society since they never went there. We also get to see more Renji! This little mini-arc won't be too long though, so don't worry. As for our Espada Ichigo... yes I changed some numbers around. Nnoitra is not 5, but 8 (as he used to be, anyway). 9 is the same-creepy two-headed guy, 10 or 0 is the same-Yammy. 8 was removed (mainly cause I didn't think him interesting or important, as Chad's fight was super-boring). Syazel is bumped up to 7, which is because I liked his character and thought him interesting. 3,2,1-I haven't seen these guys in action yet, so I still don't know much about them, but I'm getting there. And the plot thickens!


	10. Chapter 10

She was beautiful. Unlike anything he'd ever seen, and yet...she was the enemy. Ishida sighed, arrow nocked and ready, but he just couldn't do it, he couldn't shoot her. Not when her eyes were so sad... The Bount eyed him carefully, before springing away and out of his sight. Meanwhile Kurodo was shrieking in his ear, telling him to follow, but he sighed and let the resihi dissipate.

They hadn't meant to get into a fight. He was simply walking home from school, Kurodo at his side, when the sensor went off. Urahara had only warned them not to look for trouble, not that they couldn't fight when trouble found them. They had rounded the corner just in time to see the female Bount with her lips pressed up against someone's neck, before said person crumbled away into dust, leaving only clothes behind. He had stared in horror before drawing his bow, aiming at the Bount. Her eyes had widened, and he saw a flicker of disbelief cross her face. "A Quincy? But I thought they had all died..." then he took a step closer, and the woman's hands went up in defense. "Please...you don't understand. I- I'm not the problem here, I-"

"Not the problem?" he had hissed. "You just robbed that man of his life and any chance at an afterlife. I would call that a problem." she shook her head frantically, and tugged her jacket closer.

"I need more power...I can't stop him unless I gain more power." she had looked so desperate, so sad... he had lost his focus for a moment. And then she was gone, and Ishida was left in confusion.

He reached out and flicked Kurodo on the nose, walking off. "I'm going home. You're welcome to chase after her by yourself." The mod-soul squawked and hurried to catch up with him, and Ishida bit his lip in puzzlement. _Just what had the Bount meant? Stop him? Who was it that needed stopping?_

xxx

The silver-haired man curled his hand tighter around the glass in his hand. He stood looking out at the pitiful city, full of meaningless little lives that were, in all reality, just a food source. He ran his tongue over his lips, itching to just go outside and hunt for himself, but there were bigger plans in motion...

He could remember everything so clearly. The day he realized he wasn't normal, the day that the woman brought him to the others, the day she saved him from the shinigami. The day he promised himself he would take revenge for his fallen comrades. The days he met his fellow survivors. The day that Cain was taken from this world. The day that Yoshino broke it off with him. The day he learned she was trying to stop him.

The glass shattered in his hand unexpectedly, and he cursed, flinging wine from his fingers and wincing at the sting where alcohol slid past his torn flesh. He dropped the remainder of the broken glass and moved away from the window, eyes adjusting to the darkness.

His plans were going smoothly, they were almost ready to move forward.

Jin Kariya was not someone to be taken lightly.

Soon, the whole world would know that.

xxx

Urahara glared at the red-haired shinigami, who didn't even bother to look up. He just kept on eating, and eating, and eating... Tessai was beginning to look angry, which was never good, and the kids were not eating thier own dinner in favor of watching the man devour everything in sight.

Flicking out his fan, he reclined at the table, eyes cold. "Have you had enough, Renji-san?"

"Wha-?" the man stopped, thank goodness, to look around him. He at least had the decency to look properly ashamed now, and Urahara sighed. "Oh...er-"

"So freeloader-san, you done now?" Jinta smirked at him, raising one eyebrow.

The man went as red as his hair and looked away, fiddling with the hilt of his zanpakuto. "Y-yeah." he murmured, getting up swiftly and exiting the room.

Urahara nodded, a slight smile on his face, and dinner continued as normal.

xxx

 _There was a girl in front of him, short dark hair and wide eyes. He didn't know why, but he knew she was important. She was falling backwards, a gash splitting her nearly in two. He ran towards her, hand outstretched, grabbing her just before she hit the ground._

 _"No...no. Please. You can't do this to me. I-I can't fight them by myself, please." he was nearly crying, and that was confusing as well. Since when had he cared what happened to others?_

 _She wasn't wearing a mask... he looked into a puddle and saw that he wasn't either. There were no red markings under his eyes. He was dressed in all black, a large sword strapped to his back. An unnameable fear filled him._

 _He heard laughter behind him, and turned, seeing Aizen wiping his zanpakuto off on the grass. Blinding rage filled him, and power accumulated all around him. He darted forward, but just as he reached the former shinigami, he felt a blade slide in between his ribs..._

He awoke with a scream, grabbing at the sheets. Yellow eyes wide, he jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom, scanning himself in the mirror. Mask: right where it always was. Markings: right where they always were. He breathed in, and out, and in again, regulating his breathing. He was Kurosaki Ichigo, Espada Quinta. He repeated this to himself over and over again until he could think straight.

Ichigo slumped against the bathroom door, exhausted. What had just happened...could almost certainly be called a nightmare. He hadn't had one of those since he was little, and _definetly_ not since he had become a Hollow. Just what was happening to him? Perhaps Aizen would know. He got up, reaching for the door handle when he remembered that it had been _Aizen_ to attack him in his dream. He didn't know what to do.

He shook off the feeling of aprehension, deciding to seek out Aizen anyway. Aizen was the closest thing he could get to a father-figure in Hueco Mundo, though he shuddered at the thought of having such a man as a father. He quickened his step and arrived at the man's quarters quickly, letting himself in. The former shinigami could probably already tell he was there anyway.

"Ichigo." he dropped to one knee, bowing his head. "What are you doing so late at night?" he grit his teeth and bit back a sharp retort about that being his line.

"Aizen-sama. I have...I have had a disturbing experience. I wish to know what your thoughts on the matter are." it killed him to admit any weakness like this, but something had been off lately, and it was about time to find out what it could be.

"Go on."

He straightened up before launching into his explanation: his strange feelings, feelings that no Hollow should be having, his dream, his fear at being unmasked. He left out the part of Aizen being in his dream though, not wanting to unsettle the man. At the conclusion of his explanation, Aizen just stared at him. He shuffled his feet, suddenly wishing he had never spoken.

"Kurosaki. I believe what you are experiencing is just a side effect of your arrancar transformation. Think no more on it." it was an answer...kind of. Ichigo sighed, and nodded.

"Thank you, Aizen-sama." he left the room and went back to his own quarters.

"Gin." Aizen spoke, eyes darting toward where the silver-haired man had been standing in the shadows. He stepped out, bowing his head before Aizen.

"Keep a close eye on Kurosaki. Monitor his behaviors. Tell me about anything strange. I believe that his hidden potential is beginning to come forth, and that would be troublesome for us."

The man nodded, and disappeared from sight.

A small smile touched Aizen's lips, and the room echoed with his laughter.

"It's about time."

XXX

So...I didn't really know what I wanted from today's chapter, and therefore I gave you snippets of everything going on at once. Hope that was ok! Thank you to all you followers/favoriters! I appreciate your approval of my story and wanting to read more, but I would also love to know your insights! Please review: it helps writers get better and helps keep us motivated.


	11. Chapter 11

Ishida cast a glance at the Bount woman from the corner of his eye. He hadn't meant to run into her again, labelling the problem as 'none of his business', but she had found him. It seemed she wanted to make up for the other day, and had proceeded to launch into an explanation of the problems she was facing.

He didn't pay too much attention, but when she said the name "Kariya" with such sadness and anger, he looked up. It seemed that Kariya was the root of the problems: he wanted revenge on Soul Society for his fallen Bounts. That was normal enough, Ishida hated shinigami too, because of what they did to the Quincy. But... he was using living souls to get what he wanted. That meant he was choosing to involve Ishida in this, too.

The Bount, Yoshino, he'd learned, was trying to amass her own power in order to stop Kariya and the others. He had shaken his head at her, not really believing, but it was clear she was desperate. She had even asked him for his help in... not helping? That didn't really make sense to him, but she was clear that Kariya might want to use him.

Weird.

xxx

Red eyes narrowed at the boy struggling to stand in front of him. His lip curled, showing his sharp fangs. "You really intend to protect her, Quincy?" he growled, half amused. "She is your enemy. And she belongs to me."

He could still see Yoshino's fierce eyes over the boy's shoulder, but it was clear she was on her last legs. Her doll had weakened in power greatly, and it was hardly worth even worrying about. That was, until she decided to merge with it.

Kariya hadn't had a chance to stop her, but this was almost too good. Take out Yoshino and the doll in one swift move, sealing the deal for his new doll to be made. Too easy.

The Quincy boy yelled in shock as the flame doll merged with the woman in front of his very eyes, and then he was falling back on his heels, watching. Kariya brought his arms up to defend himself, leaping into the sky, the doll-Bount following. He smirked and let her get in a few hits, if just to make it that much sweeter when the boy realized she was doomed. At last, he grew tired of playing around and shot a hand out to grip the woman's throat tightly. Just a little more pressure...and... the fiery form crumbled into dust, and he savored the look of horror on the Quincy's face. Too easy indeed.

xxx

He was still sitting there when Chad and Orihime arrived. "Ishida-kun!" the girl gasped, running over to him and quickly using her powers to heal his wounds. Chad scanned the area, looking for more enemies, he supposed.

"He's long gone." he muttered angrily, clutching at Yoshino's jacket. "He wanted me to...to watch." his hands curled, making fists in the fabric. "He killed her."

Orihime was staring at him, eyes puzzled. Chad said nodded, turning his head at a sudden movement. Familiar red hair caught his eye, and he relaxed. Not an enemy, then.

The shinigami blinked at the battlefield in front of him. "What happened here?" Renji took a step forward, intending to inspect the area, but Ishida's growl stopped him.

"Bounts." he spat, eyes dark. He glared at the soul reaper, feeling his hate suddenly spike with his recollection of Yoshino's tale. The Soul Society had created Bounts. Then they hunted them down and killed them. "Kariya Jin. He's the leader of the Bounts. And he's trying to get to Seireitei." he focused on the ground, "and I can't really blame him."

Renji blinked. Seireitei? Surely not... "Why?" he asked, confused.

"As if you don't know!" Ishida hissed, waving Orihime off and getting to his feet. "It's always something to do with Soul Reapers," he muttered, jabbing Renji in the chest. "Always."

Abarai narrowed his eyes as he watched the Quincy stagger off. "Sado-kun. Please make sure Ishida gets home safely." the tall boy nodded, and Renji sighed, turning back to the battlefield before him. Orihime was standing, brushing the dirt off her skirt, and Renji frowned. "Where's Ririn?" That being said...he hadn't seen any of the mod-souls tonight, and there had even been a battle.

The orange-haired girl shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "Urahara-san had something for them to do." she brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, and brushed past him. "See you later, Renji-san."

The red-haired man sook his head, biting his lip in frustration. Why did it seem like he was the last to know anything that was going on?

xxx

Birdsong. It was always birdsong that woke her. Her eyes slid open a crack to see daylight streaming into her room, and she groaned. How late was it? How long had she been out? She tried to sit up before a dull ache in her chest made her sink back down. What exactly- her eyes grew wide as she remembered.

Aizen-taicho.

His hand stabbing into her chest.

He pulled something out.

And then... then he was gone, in a bright light.

And...were there others with him?

Rukia gasped, breathing quickly as she tried to make sense of what had happened. Aizen had attacked her. Why? To steal something. He said something about...Urahara? Then he and two others had disappeared. But...what came after that?

Footsteps approached, and she turned her head to look towards the screen sliding open. "Kuchiki-san!" she frowned as someone she didn't know ran up to her. "You're awake!" it was a young man...from Division Four?

"Wh-who?" she croaked.

"Oh!" he blushed, "Yamada Hanataro." he smiled at her. "I'm in charge of you at the moment."

She nodded, closing her eyes. "Th-thank you."

"Of course!" she heard him settle by her side, and soon she felt the warmth of healing engulf her again. "Kuchiki-taicho will be so relieved to hear that you've woken."

"Nii-sama?" Rukia gasped, cracking one eye open to look at the healer.

"Uh...y-yes." he gave her a sheepish smile.

She smiled to herself, "Hm." Hanataro looked at her, wanting to say something more, but the injured shinigami was already asleep again. He sighed.

The captains would just have to wait for their answers.

XXX

Hello again! I have noticed some more followers appearing! Thank you! Would love for you to review! I asked one of my DA followers to tell me their thoughts on this story and they said to "be careful not to jump around in timelines, as it could get confusing." I would like to make sure that everyone understands something: the chapters are in chronological order, with sections of each chapter marked by 'xxx' if the point of view shifts from one character or scene to another. They are not time skips. These events are happening simultaneously, unless I specifically make a mention of it occurring in past tense. Just trying to be clear on that!

Oh but today...we got why Ishida is ready to take on the Bounts, Renji feeling left out (poor Renji. I do love him, really, I do. But he always seems to be the last to know.), and Rukia waking up from her ordeal with Aizen. At least she's alive! No Ichigo this chapter... maybe not until I hit the arrancar/Hueco Mundo arc because he just really isn't doing much in Hueco Mundo right now. Just sitting around, training, fighting with Grimmjow, the usual.

Alright! So more fun tomorrow!


	12. Chapter 12

Ah. So _that_ was why he needed a Quincy. Ishida frowned, biting his lip and turning his head to the side. He couldn't believe he had let himself be captured. It was foolish of him to storm after the Bounts on his own, but...after last night, he just couldn't get the sight of Yoshino crumbling into dust out of his head. It was horrible.

So he had stormed the place where Kurodo could sense unusual spiritual activity, and the mod-soul had been knocked out on arrival. He had faced Kariya himself, before realizing that there were more Bounts appearing all around him. There was no way he could take them all on at once, though...that didn't seem to be their style, anyway. He made to attack the silver-haired Bount, and before he knew it he was on his knees, breathing unsteadily and struggling to comprehend what had happened to him. And then Kariya proceeded to villain-monologue him into complete and utter boredom. He finally got to his point at the end, saying, "And you, Quincy, will open the gate for us."

And now he was sitting in a room, provided with a bed and adjacent bathroom, silently pondering what the Bount had meant. He didn't know how to open any gates, and he most definitely did not wish to open one to Seireitei. He hated the shinigami, why would he want to invite himself into their territory?

But...he wanted the Bount dead. That much was certain. And if he could only fight the Bounts at their strongest, then he was sure he would get stronger too. Anything to be able to do his job more efficeintly. If he could figure out how to open this...gate, then maybe he would have a chance to take the Bounts down (and maybe Soul Society with it, if he was lucky). He sighed, leaning against the bed and eventually just flopping on it. He would help the Bounts...in order to take them down.

xxx

Urahara tapped his cane against the wall, keeping a steady rythem. The two mod-souls were kneeling in front of him, Ririn biting her lip and Noba keeping his eyes on the ground. He sighed, placing the cane by his side. "You're sure Kurodo went with Ishida-kun to the Bount hide-out?" the blonde girl nodded shortly, holding back tears. "Tch. I told you three to return straight here." his olive eyes were cold and calculating. "So did you two find anything important, then?"

Noba straightened up and looked him in the eye. "It was no problem. We found out that the residue is..different, like you said."

Kisuke nodded, and Ririn handed him a vial of the glowing substance. "This is useful information, and an even more useful sample." the girl let out a visible sigh of relief, and his expression softened. "Go back to Sado-kun and Orihime-chan. I will conduct research on my own, and call for you if I have use of you again."

The two made to get up, sliding back the screen when Urahara called them back, "Oh, and please. Don't try to rescue Ishida-kun." their eyes widened and he shrugged. "He got himself into this mess, he can get himself out. Besides, I think he'll find that the Bounts have need to keep him alive...for now." Ririn frowned, and opened her mouth to speak before Noba put a hand on her shoulder and steered them away.

As the screen closed behind them, Kisuke removed his hat and ruffled his hair. "As much as I don't want to say this...I believe that Soul Society needs a wake-up call." he twirled the vial in his fingers, studying the Bount residue. "And Ishida-kun is just the one to do it."

xxx

Kariya sipped at the liquified soul in his glass, throwing a look towards the taller man leaning against the wall. "What is it?" the man seemed uncomfortable, and Kariya knew that was unusual in itself.

Koga sighed and opened his eyes, focusing on Kariya's glass. "It doesn't seem right. Why push the fight to them when we can continue to survive just fine down here? Why even bother? Shouldn't we be more concerned with the survival of our tribe than-" he stopped, feeling the menace behind Kariay's glare.

"You know as well as I what they did to us. You know even better than I the pain of losing tribe members, especially the young." the silver-haired man growled, setting his glass down on the desk beside him. "The Quincy will open the gate for us, and we will finally show them exactly what we're made of." his eyes glinted in the dying light, and Koga knew better than to argue anymore. Jin was too far gone for that to be of any difference.

XXX

Consistently posting is hard, you know? I digress. Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, I just wasn't feeling it today.

Anyway, this is my first Bleach fic, so pardon me if anything seems OOC or not quite right. I'm still learning. This is also the first fic I've posted to jump around from character to character so much. I really like 3rd person limited POV, and don't care for 3rd person omniscient, so that's why I continue to shift characters.

Please please please review. I know that I sound like I'm begging, but I really am at this point. Only 3 reviews so far? I love reading reviews. I love hearing what you guys have to say. I even take criticism well, as it helps me get better! So please take the time to leave a review, even if it's only a sentence or two. I would love you to death for it.

Ok, so tomorrow! I want to wrap up this mini-arc before we hit the half-way point, so Bounts should be over and done soon!


	13. Chapter 13

000

Hey, I apologize for this in advance, ok?  
But I just won't let reviews like this fly.  
I respect all opinions, but this is downright 'attack-mode' on me personally. It's not even about the story. Here is what I mean, copied directly before I take it down:

Guest chapter 12 . 20m ago  
Why can't you people just die? Ichigo is not interested in Rukia. Kill yourself, disgusting delulu fatass virgin fag

You see? Not ok. For one, I am already dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. I don't need your stupid comments? Ok? Ok. Secondly, did I say that romance would be Icigo/Rukia? No. I didn't. I said there might be eventual romance. I did not specify pairings. And frankly, it's fanfiction. I can ship whoever I want. Thirdly, 'virgin' is not an insult.  
That's all I have to say.

000

Sorry about all that, guys. I just...I had to be clear about it. It really hurts when you're super excited to see a new review, and then you get... that. It's not even criticism of the story. It's just hate directed at me, and that isn't something I have to deal with. And really? They hid behind the name 'Guest'. Either 1: they don't even have a account, or 2: they're afraid to say anything under their username because they know I would report it. Both are cowardly.

Really, I'm done now. Promise.

Ok. Chapter 13.

Here we go.

XXX

"RYOKA! RYOKA!" the alarm was loud and blaring throughout all of Soul Society. "All Divisions to their assigned sections!" The girl covered her ears in protest, running alongside her friends deeper into the streets. She didn't understand why the shinigami were after them as well as the Bounts, they were just trying to help!

Orihime stumbled, crying out before Ishida quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her along. She saw him grit his teeth, and she winced. Technically, she supposed, the shinigami were after Ishida and the Bounts, seeing as he had opened the gate.

She still wondered how he had managed to do that. He hadn't known how to do any of that before he was captured, and then suddenly, as Orihime, Chad, and the mod-souls were attempting a rescue mission, there had been Ishida, standing near a portal, looking guilty but determined. Unfortunately, they hadn't known that they wouldn't be able to pass through the gate Ishida opened, and had to get to Seireitei by other means. The cannon was _not_ an experience she wanted to go through again.

When they had touched down in Soul Society...or crash-landed... it was already in total uproar. Their presence had gone unnoticed at first, but when Chad got into a fight with a Bount...well. Their cover was blown, and the shinigami seemed to suspect foul play on the humans' behalf. Which was, admittedly, true. Then someone tried to challenge them to a fight, and someone else went to get a captain, and they were now running.

Somewhere along the way she had lost the mod-souls, them heading off on their own. Which was not very helpful to the mission at all: only they could expressly tell where the Bounts were. She shook her head and kept up with the boys, trying not to get lost. However when the two of them were challenged once more to fights, she lost them. She was alone, in an unfamiliar place, with total chaos happening all around her.

The orangette pressed herself against a wall, eyes wide as soul reapers scrambled back and forth. She slid to the ground and drew her knees up to her chest, suddenly thinking that maybe she shouldn't have come on this mission after all. Her attack was weak, her defense only moderate, and her healing was slow. She sighed and rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes. At least, until a sharp voice hit her ears.

"Ken-chan! Is she a ryoka, do you think?"

She opened her eyes in shock. _What was a child doing here?_ Looking up, her eyes widened and she shrank back against the wall, whimpering.

There was _no way_ he was human.

Zaraki Kenpachi knew he wasn't much of a looker. He didn't care. But when the girl quailed in front of him, cowering against the wall in fear, he almost felt bad. _Almost_. But not really. In fact, it just confirmed his power in his own mind.

"Of course she's a ryoka." he growled, darting a glance towards his small lieutenant. "But she's not worth my time." his bells tinkled as he turned away from the human girl. "Can't you feel her spiritual pressure? She's practically a baby."

The pink-haired girl laughed, and gripped tighter to his cloak.

"Whatever you say, Ken-chan!"

He rolled his eyes.

xxx

Ishida hissed in pain, springing away from the crazy shinigami. The bald man threw his head back and laughed, spinning his zanpakuto over his head.

"You running away, huh?!" a whoosh by his ear, and his eyes widened as he saw a few strands of hair fall to the ground. He barely registered the spear/staff returning to the man's hand. That attack could have killed him. Actually, he was pretty sure that the man was just toying with him, and could have killed him a long time ago.

He readied his bow, drawing on the reishi of the Soul Society to strengthen the arrows' power, before letting loose a barrage at the bald man. Which were all knocked away effortlessly. Of course. His only option was to run away, like the man had accused him of doing, it seemed.

The Quincy took off, hearing an indignant shout behind him, and then the man was standing in front of him. _Curse shinigami and their flash-step._ He jumped backwards, bow drawn and shooting arrows at the form in front of him. Deflected again. He bit his lip and was just about to dash away again when a flash of red hair appeared between him and his adversary.

"A-Abarai." he murmured.

"Go." it was a simple order, and he took it, sprinting away as fast as he could.

Ikkaku spat, watching the Quincy bolt from the battle. He turned cold eyes to Abarai Renji, who stood obstinately in his way. "Renji." his voice was low and dangerous. "If we fight now, I'll kill you." he saw the lieutenant pale, but the determined expression didn't change.

"Ikkaku. Please. The Bounts are our enemy, not the human ryoka. They only came to help." he didn't miss the way Renji's hand had settled on the hilt of his zanpakuto.

He cursed, transforming his zanpakuto back to its original form. "I know. I was only looking for a bit of fun." Renji visibly relaxed, before getting serious once more.

"Then save your strength for the Bounts. We'll need it."

"Tch." he watched as Renji disappeared, no doubt off to harass someone else.

The third seat sheathed his zanpakuto slowly, thinking.

He could still have fun.

A grin lit his features, and he dashed off in search of his next target.

xxx

He stared down the woman in front of him. He hadn't foreseen her as an obstacle to his plans. No, she didn't factor in at all.

"Please, stop this." she said, arms wide open, as if he was just going to run into them. "What we did was wrong, yes, but this won't fix the past."

"Of course it won't!" he growled, eyes glowing red. "Nothing can fix what you did." Kariya's head spun with memories, all the hatred he'd kept suppressed springing to the surface.

"You created us. You brought us together, told us we'd be safe, that we'd be able to live in peace with each other. Then you led them straight to us! You didn't even let me die!" he cried, fangs slashing. "No, I had to live, to see my fellow surviors be slaughtered, to watch as my tribe slowly became extinct!"

The woman flinched and brought a hand up to her chest, eyes dark. "I know, but if you stop this then perhaps-"

"NO!" his brow furrowed. "No." Silver hair shone in the sunlight. "It's past the time for talking. Now is the time we take our revenge."

He sprang towards the woman, whose brown eyes flashed underneath glasses.

Rantao.


	14. Chapter 14

One by one the Bounts were being defeated. Koga could sense each time one of his fellows died. The girl. The kid. The old man. One by one they fell, til only he and Kariya were left. And now he was facing off against the boy captain, and he was losing.

His doll was on her last legs, struggling to keep reforming over and over again as the ice seperated the limbs from the body and froze them. It was painful to watch. He called Dalk back, but the moment he did the sword flashed in his direction, and ice shot towards him. Cursing, he brought her back out, much to her annoyance.

"I-I can't keep going like this." she muttered, shooting off bullet-like projectiles towards the captain. He nodded once, acknowledging her. And then the ice overtook her completely. She was frozen solid, and Koga dropped to his knees. "Dalk."

He turned his eyes to the boy, who was watching him. "I had heard the Bount died when the doll did. But you are not dead."

"My doll is not yet dead." the metal reformed into an axe, and he charged at the captain. He managed to swing a few good hits, but they were always blocked by the zanpakuto. Finally, just as he was starting to think he couldn't lift his arm anymore, he heard the war-cry.

It was cold. Colder than he'd imagined. Closing his eyes, the ice formed all around him.

He did not open them again.

xxx

The top of the hill was a lot higher up than it had seemed. He didn't know why Kariya had come all the way up here, and he didn't really care. All he had to do was defeat him.

Inoue had healed his wounds before he had raced off in the middle of the night to challenge Kariya. Finding him hadn't been easy. But when he got there, Kariya was standing over someone, and when he got closer he recognized the face. _Yoshino?!_ But he knew that couldn't be possible. Kariya wasn't doing anything to the woman, just looking down at her, eyes filled with hate.

"Don't think I don't know you're there, Quincy." Ishida winced and stepped out from his hiding space, wary. The Bount narrowed his eyes and growled lowly, "She's not Yoshino." Ishida nodded, slowly. "This is the woman responsible for all my troubles. I was right in the middle of letting her have it, and she falls asleep on me." he snorted, and Ishida glared. "So I have decided to let her live, if only to see the demise of Soul Society."

Ishida had taken a step forward then, ready to argue, when Kariya held up a hand to stop him. "You wanted to fight me at my best, correct?" Ishida flushed. "Tomorrow. Wait and see. Meet me at the Sokyoku Hill." then he had disappeared, leaving Ishida with the sleeping woman. He felt bad about leaving her there, so he had scooped her up and taken her back to where he and his friends were hiding out, a place that Yoruichi had told them about before leaving them to their own devices. It was true that Shiba Kukaku was...interesting, to say the least.

As he neared the top of the hill, he paused. Was he really ready to face off against the Bount? Especially if he was at full strength? He couldn't be sure. But he had to try.

Ishida Uryu was prepared for anything.

xxx

As it turned out, Ishida wasn't prepared at all. Renji had followed the Quincy, and the others were not long after him, and he was glad that he had come.

Ishida was losing. Losing quickly. The boy was bleeding all over the place, and it didn't look like any damage had been done to the Bount. Heck, the reaitsu coming from him almost matched a captain's, and Ishida was certainly no match for them.

Renji frowned. He wasn't too comfortable with his bankai yet, never really having an opponent to practice on, and he didn't think this was a fight that Soul Society could afford to lose. Fortunately, the captains were already on their way, having sensed a battle.

He watched as the boy fell and didn't get up. He lurched forward, zanpakuto in hand, when a flicker of motion stopped him. There was his captain, standing in front of him, watching the Bount carefully. "T-Taicho."

Byakuya said nothing, simply drawing his zanpakuto and watching the flower petals surround the Bount. Then with one flick of his hand, it was over.

Over.

The last Bount, dead.

His eyes slid to Ishida, barely registering the fact that Orihime was kneeling over him already, healing him to the best of her abilities. Then he was looking at Byakuya with wonder, and a little resentment. He would never catch up at this rate.

"Are these the ryoka?" he nodded, at his captain's question, reluctant to turn over his friends to his superiors, but in no place to argue. "I will detain them, then." Byakuya kept his zanpakuto drawn, watching Chad, Orihime, and Ishida, who was struggling to sit up.

Renji had a bad feeling about this.

xxx

The head captain's gaze was unsettling, as focused as it was. "Humans. You entered Seireitei without permission." They kept their heads down, bowed respectfully. "One of you," his eyes landed on Ishida, "was responsible for the invasion of the Bounts." The Quincy boy flinched. "However, you have not caused any damage yourselves. For this reason, you will be permitted to return to the world of the living." he paused, watching the three visibly relax, if only slightly. "However." all three stiffened once more. "I will be assigning a few shinigami to keep an eye on you." It was a fair enough sentence, he thought. They would be monitored in the living world, but still have a relative amount of freedom. "Dismissed. Toshiro-taicho, escort them to the senkaimon."

The captains broke their lines, exiting and some watching the ryoka carefully. The Tenth Captain nodded to Ishida, before leading the way out. The walk to the gate was quiet, and Toshiro couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for the humans. "It will be alright," he said, hoping to ease their worries. "The head captain won't assign anyone unreasonable." Ishida nodded, Orihime bit her lip, and Chad crossed his arms.

The gate opened, and the humans made their way back home. Toshiro watched them for a moment before returning to his quarters. He had just settled at his desk when Rangiku appeared, a hell butterfly on her outstretched finger.

"Taicho. Emergency meeting." _Again? So soon?_ Toshiro nodded, he and his lieutenant flash-stepping back to the meeting hall. Everyone else was already there, speaking in low tones and looking confused, and the head captain looked perplexed himself.

Then the doors opened and Toshiro knew why the meeting had been called.

Kuchiki Rukia was awake and ready to speak.

 _Now._

XXX

This one was more difficult to write. I'm not great at writing battle scenes and didn't really know how to wrap up the Bount arc. But anyway, tomorrow will see a sort of transition chapter, where I set up for the next mini-arc. Thank you guys so much for the favs/follows/reviews, and about yesterday: I just really hope something like that doesn't happen again. Be warned: if your review is not relevant, or is a personal attack, it will be removed. Just a heads-up. I know most of you are decent people who'd never pull that crap to begin with.


	15. Chapter 15

All eyes were fixed on her as she entered the Head Captain's meeting hall. It felt like only yesterday that she had been standing here, receiving her sentence, but she knew it had been much longer than that. A week or two, at the very least. It was more likely that it had been a month.

Hanataro had taken care of her while she drifted in and out of consciousness, healing her and just keeping an eye on her, and apparently some new trouble had begun while she was still recovering. Hanataro hadn't known all the details, but had said it involved some people called "Bounts" and other ryoka, the names of her human friends slipping past his lips. It had worried her, at first, that he friends would be in trouble for coming to Soul Society, but the healer didn't think they would be in too much trouble.

It turned out that he had been right, as her friends were allowed to go home earlier that day. She was also finally feeling strong enough to be able to answer the questions about her injury, and Aizen's disappearance. Hence, the reason she was once again, standing before the captains. But three were missing. She felt a pang of panic, but choked it down.

"Kuchiki Rukia." she dipped her head to the head captain. "You are ready to tell us of your incident?" she nodded, drawing in a deep breath, before starting her explanation.

Shocked expressions and hurt faces stared back at her as she told of Aizen's betrayal, and confusion at her description of an item being pulled out of her. She finished saying that she had heard the captains Gin and Tousen show up as she lay on the ground, and that they 'were leaving'. Her description of the light shining on each of them made heads nod in accordance, that had to have been the garganta from the same night. She stared at her feet, suddenly exhausted.

Ukitake tapped a finger to his chin. "Kuchiki-kun," she turned to face him, "you said that Aizen said something about Urahara, and a gigai?" she nodded. "What does that have to do with anything?" she shrugged, wishing she knew.

"I believe, Ukitake, that Urahara Kisuke is wrapped up in this. He knows more than he's letting on." Byakuya's voice was calm and collected, and Rukia blinked.

"Urahara has already been asked about it." everyone turned back to the head captain. "Apparently, he had accidentally created a very powerful object, naming it Hogyoku, that could be used to destroy Seireitei, among other things. Urahara decided the best course of action was to hide it inside a soul." Rukia's eyes widened. "He then thought that to protect it further, he would have the soul remain in a special gigai until it was unable to leave it again, effectively rendering the soul human and the item irretrievable." she gasped and felt her knees go weak, starting to fall before suddenly there were hands under her arms, keeping her upright. She turned her head and looked up into the face of Kyoraku-taicho, and sighed softly.

"I think Kuchiki-kun needs to get back to bed." the low rumble of the laid-back captain was soothing. The head captain nodded, and the captain escorted Rukia back to her quarters.

"I want you all to be training intensely. No doubt Aizen is not done with us." Yamamoto muttered, tapping his cane against the ground. "Dismissed."

xxx

Las Noches was boring. That's all there was to it. Ichigo growled, leaning back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. He didn't go out and hunt any more, the lower arrancar always scrambling to bring him food, and Aizen not wanting them out and running around. He and Grimmjow were _almost_ 'getting along', which just meant the number of challenges a week had gone down, but those fights were getting repetitive. He still hadn't the strength to dare to take on Ulqiuorra or any higher-ups, so nothing new there. The Espada started to wonder if listening to Aizen had been worth it. But then he remembered the power he had gained, and shoved those thoughts aside. Aizen had only increased his power, and he hadn't forgotten his goal of becoming king.

However...Las Noches was _boring_. So when Aizen summoned him to the 'throne room', he had used sonido to get there as soon as possible. The former shinigami blinked at him, his hair being stirred up by the wind Ichigo had created, and chuckled darkly. "Eager, are we?"

Ichigo flushed, brushing a hand back through his hair. "Yes, Aizen-sama."

The older man nodded, before turning his eyes to the door. "Ulquiorra, come here."

Yellow eyes locked onto emerald as the 4th Espada joined him in front of Aizen. A scowl formed on Ichigo's face, which received no recognition from the other. _I have to work with him?!_

" I am sending you two to the world of the living." Ichigo's head jerked up. _Finally._ "I want you to scout out a certain place, and some certain inhabitants. You are not to make contact with anyone, human or shinigami, but to keep completely concealed. Understand?" Ichigo nodded, teeth flashing, and Ulqiuorra nodded once as well. "Then go."

The garganta opened in front of them and they stepped through slowly, reaitsu repressed to barely even noticeable, before emerging into the living world.

Ichigo drew in a deep breath of clean air, and nearly leapt for joy.

Until he recognized the town around him.

 _Karakura._

He felt the emotions swirling inside him like a hurricane, and pushed them down, trying to forget. Ulqiuorra was watching him closely, with narrowed eyes, and Ichigo realized he was quivering. He bit his lip and forced himself to steady his breathing, before finally recovering. The other man said nothing and merely turned his head, scanning the town. "I believe it will be best if we split up," Ulquiorra murmured, and Ichigo nodded, just ready to get over his embarrassment.

Then he was alone, standing in the sky and looking over his hometown. He shook his head and sank slowly to the ground, walking around familiar sights and landmarks, before stopping in front of his old home, regret hitting him full-on. He walked up to the door, peering inside the windows. There was Yuzu and Karin, making dinner. He smiled softly, before hearing a sharp gasp behind him.

He turned in alarm, he knew that he'd been keeping his reaitsu down. But his mind went blank at the figure standing in front of him. "I-Ichigo?" Isshin gaped, looking like a fish out of water. "Is it really you?" the man sounded almost _hopeful_. Memories hit him in full force, and he used sonido to speed away from the scene. _Aizen warned us not to make contact._ He repeated this inside his brain, using it as his excuse to get away from the man who was his father. It had nothing to do with his _emotions_.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a new voice hit his ears, and he spun around, already completely unsettled. His sonido must have alerted someone to his presence. His hand hovered above his zanpakuto, when the newcomer finally came into focus.

A strangled gasp left his lips as he struggled to make sense of what he was seeing.

 _A...mask?_

XXX

So we're finally moving on! I'm so excited about this next mini-arc! And we got Rukia and Ichigo today! So much fun!


	16. Chapter 16

Alright, I know I ask for reviews but lately...the reviews page won't load. There are at least 4 reviews that I can't see (even though I have got messages about 2 of them and one was my test). So please, if I haven't responded to your review it's either because you are posting as a guest, or because won't let me see it, or most likely both. So if you have something to say, please PM me!

Ok, on to the good stuff!

XXX

Seeing a masked figure wasn't unusual for the Espada. That wasn't what had startled him, after all, every arrancar retained at least some portion of their mask. No, it was just...this location was all wrong for it. He and Ulquiorra had been the only two arrancar ordered into the living world, he was sure of it. So who did that make this, then?

"I can see you're having trouble trying to place me." the man laughed, pale yellow eyes glinting in the darkness. "Well I can't say I blame you." Ichigo's eyes widened as suddenly the man was nose-to-nose with him. "But we're more alike than you know." He cursed and leapt backwards, drawing his zanpakuto as he did so. "What? Don't ya trust me?"

Ichigo frowned, something inside screaming him to get away as fast as he could, and something else begging him to stay put. He lowered his zanpakuto slowly, the inner war causing him confusion. "Wh-what are you?" he spat, eyes wary. "Why do you have that mask? What do you mean we're alike?"

The other threw his head back and laughed, a strange sound that was further distorted by the mask. "Wouldn't you like to know?" The Espada narrowed his eyes and lurched forward, bringing his zanpakuto up to swing at the masked man. The ring of steel echoed in his ears as he was blocked by the other's zanpakuto, and he bit his lip. "It'll be easier if I show you, arrancar." his head snapped up and he opened his mouth to speak, but movement on the other's side stopped him. He leaned back from their crossed swords, watching.

A hand came up to the mask and slowly pulled it off. _Completely_ off. Ichigo almost dropped his sword in shock. Underneath the mask was... a human face. No remnants of the mask could be seen. He was no arrancar, no adjuchas, no _hollow_ at all.

"Just what do you think you're playing at?!" he growled, looking the other up and down. "Who are you?!"

The other grinned at him. "Hirako Shinji, Visored."

 _Visored?_

 _What the hell was that supposed to mean?!_

xxx

Ulquiorra paused, sensing the flare of reiatsu from his companion. He narrowed his eyes, knowing Aizen would take it out on Ichigo if he screwed anything up, so there wasn't much to worry about on that front. But the lower Espada's reaction to the town had been...interesting. He would make sure to show Aizen-sama that Ichigo was questionable in loyalty at best.

Unlike Ichigo, Ulquiorra Cifer had a tight grip on his emotions as well as his reaitsu. He scouted the area with quick efficiency, and went about searching for the 'individuals' Aizen had mentioned. He scoffed, wondering why Ichigo was even sent with him, as Aizen hadn't told his companion of the people they needed to look for.

The various spiritual pressures in the town were like flickering candles, just asking to be smothered. But Aizen had forbidden it. He found the largest flickers with ease: a shinigami-like presence surrounded by a few others of significance, the Quincy boy, the human with hollow-like powers (though greatly restricted), the girl. The girl was the most interesting out of the bunch, even if she was not the strongest. Aizen had said that she had unusual powers, seeming to be able to reverse the flow of time. Where he had heard that Ulquiorra was uncertain, but he dared not question Aizen-sama.

He followed the girl the longest, hoping to see some instance of her powers at work, just to confirm Aizen-sama's speculations. But the orange-haired girl did nothing. She was simply human. Ulquiorra turned his attention back to his fellow Espada, before frowning in confusion.

Ichigo was...

...gone.

xxx

Soul Society was a mess. The Bount and ryoka invasion had caused damage here and there, but had also managed to get the blood boiling all throughout the divisions. Members were picking fights with members from different squads, and sometimes from their own, if you happened to belong to the 11th.

The situation didn't get any better when the Head Captain had announced who would be 'babysitting' the humans Chad, Inoue, and Ishida. Firstly, there were more shinigami than humans. Secondly, the shinigami chosen were all at least lieutenant level. Thirdly, they were from mixed divisions. And fourth, Kuchiki Rukia was not allowed to go.

Renji sighed, scratching his nose as he listened to Rukia rant. He'd heard it all on repeat since the announcement had been made: why can't I go, I'm better now, I know the town better than anyone, they're _my_ friends, blah, blah, blah. "Rukia." the dark-haired girl looked up at him, mouth snapping shut. "You're not fully recovered yet. That's why you can't go." she pouted and Renji sighed. "Plus, I know the town now, and they're my friends too."

She glared at him, puffing out her chest. Renji shrank back slightly, afraid he was about to get slapped, when the girl deflated. "I know." she murmured quietly, sitting down in front of him. "I know...I just..." she rested her chin on one hand and closed her eyes. "I just want to be useful, you know? I want to protect them."

Renji watched her, eyes warm, and felt his heart beat a little faster. "When you get better, you can." the girl glanced at him, and nodded. "In the meantime, I'll take care of them for you." she smiled at him softly, and he felt his cheeks grow warm. "I promise, Rukia."

"Just keep them safe."

xxx

Toshiro's temper was beginning to fray. He had had enough of this mission already, and it hadn't even started yet. They were passing through the senkaimon to the living world, and already the squabbling was unbearable. Ikkaku and Renji were arguing, Rangiku and Yumichika were arguing, and to top it all off no one was listening to him. He flash-stepped in front of the group, turning to face them. "If you all don't stop right now, I will send each of you back to Seireitei and ask for new members." He glared at each of them in turn, before spinning around and continuing on the path. That shut them up.

Momentarily.

He grit his teeth as the argument shifted to Ikakku and Renji _against_ Matsumoto and Yumichika.

He couldn't believe he was having to babysit _seven_ people.

xxx

Kisuke's head snapped up at the brief flash of reaitsu he didn't recognize. It had been strong and _sharp_ , feeling like a hollow, but also not. It wasn't something he'd felt before. He blinked, breathing in deeply before apologizing to the rest of the table. He needed to get some air.

He walked outside before jumping up to land on the roof, eyes scanning the sky intensely. He was sure that he could sense Shinji's reaitsu close by, but it was fuzzy and faint. The man clutched his cain tighter, suddenly worried that the Visoreds were in Karakura. But the new pressure... it flared again, and he flash-stepped to the location.

There was no one there, but Shinji's spiritual pressure was clearer here, mingling with that of the newcomer. It seemed Shinji was taking things into his own hands, and Kisuke tugged his hat down over his eyes, smirking.

"If that's the way he wants to play, then so be it."

XXX

Yes, I know that Ikkaku and Yumichika are not lieutenants. But they have thier own personal reasons for that, not because they're not strong enough. Heck, Ikkaku could be a captain, but he's choosing not to. So we know now that Shinji has made contact with Ichigo...for what purpose? Why can't Ulqiuorra sense him anymore? So many questions! Please PM me as reviews are acting up right now and I can't see anything. Or if you want to review and then PM me that would be great too.


	17. Chapter 17

i"Oi." light streaming in from somewhere warmed the back of his eyelids. "Oi!" louder this time. Then he was sitting up with a sharp gasp, the air having all had been pushed out of his stomach with a kick.

He gasped and wheezed, trying to reclaim his breath, and his eyes focused on a scowling face in front of his own. "Wh-why'd you do that?" he croaked, leaning back.

"'Bout time you woke up, baldy." the scowl was replaced with a smirk, and Ichigo frowned, not recognizing who it was in front of him. It was a girl, but... He blinked, looking around the room. He didn't know where he was, how he got there, or any of the people staring at him.

So, naturally, he flipped out.

He scrambled away from the girl and onto his feet, drawing his zanpakuto in a rush. "Who-who are you people?" he pointed the sword at each of them in turn, yellow eyes wide. "Where am I?" _Aizen's gonna kill me._

A hand clapped onto his shoulder and he turned his head, looking at this new person. "Relax, arrancar. No one here's gonna hurt ya, if you don't hurt them." he recognized this one: the voice from last night was without its distortion, and the face without its mask. he shrugged the hand off him and swung the zanpakuto up to the man's neck.

"Just who are you? Why did you bring me here?" he growled, voice low and dangerous. he was done playing games.

The man had the decency to look properly worried, what with the tip of a sharp sword pressing against his throat. "Ah- easy, easy. I told ya last night, Hirako Shinji. I'm a Visored, just like all of them over there." he flung out an arm and Ichigo's eyes followed, taking in the group of people who were watching intensely. He growled again, pressing the sword against skin til he drew blood. Shinji paled, and chuckled nervously. "Er... Visoreds are like you arrancar, but flipped. I brought ya here to...well, to train ya."

Ichigo's inner voice screamed to just kill the man, to run and get back to Aizen, but something held him back. _What did he mean-flipped? And training?_ An Espada hardly needed the training of someone who wasn't even arrancar. He lowered the zanpakuto slowly, and it seemed like the entire group let out a sigh of relief. "What do you mean, flipped? And why do you think I need training?"

Shinji pressed an arm to his back and steered him to a chair, sitting him down. Ichigo narrowed his eyes, looking up at the man. "Please, it will be easier to just... let me explain, ok? No interruptions." Ichigo sighed, curiosity finally having won out, and settled himself in the chair.

"Now, arrancar are Hollows that have evolved to gain near-shinigami levels of power: in form and even down to the zanpakuto. Sometimes this happens naturally, sometimes... there is an outside source that works the adjuchas into an arrancar." Ichigo resisted the urge to yawn, settling for tapping his fingers on the arms of the chair. "Visoreds are the opposite. We were once shinigami, and then by no fault of our own-" he paused, throwing a glare over his shoulder as the girl snorted, "-like I was saying, no fault of our own, we gained Hollow powers. The mask you saw last night is one example. Another would be our Cero." Ichigo's eyes widened at that. "But you...you are special, arrancar." yellow eyes narrowed to slits. "You see, you are undoubtedly a Hollow, an arrancar, an _Espada_ ," Ichigo hissed softly, "but you are also full of potential. You are, without a doubt, very _shinigami_ in nature." the other leaned away, smirking down at him.

Ichigo blinked, not quite sure if he had heard that right.

 _Him?_

 _ **Shinigami?**_

xxx

Ishida glanced over at the shopkeeper, then back at the shinigami in front of him. "So... we were each assigned at least one Soul Reaper, Inoue has Rangiku, Chad has that guy-" Ikkaku frowned, "and I have Renji, but then why are there extras?" Yumichika huffed, refusing to look at him, and Toshiro narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Urahara smiled nervously, waving his hands. "No, no Ishida-kun. Yumichika-san is here to keep an eye on all three of you, yes, but he's also here to perform the normal shinigami duties for the town. Hitsugaya-taicho is here to keep an eye on all of you, but also on all of _them_." That seemed to be good enough for Ishida, and the topic was quickly dropped.

"Well if everything is settled, I must be getting home." Orihime smiled, pushing up from the table. "Rangiku-san, you're more than welcome to stay with me."

"Oh, thank you dear!" the younger girl squealed as the shinigami wrapped her in a big hug, and the two left shortly. Toshiro soon followed, muttering something about his lieutenant under his breath.

Chad was not long after that, the big teen not really having much to say in the first place. Ikkaku and Yumichika went with him, and finally it was just Ishida, Renji, and Urahara around the table.

"Urahara-san," Ishida started, darting a glance at the shopkeeper. "Last night I thought I felt a strong reaitsu, but it was gone too quickly for me to identify it. Do you happen to know anything about that?" he didn't miss the way the man's shoulders stiffened, and the obvious hesitation as he whipped his fan out in front of his face.

"Ah, Ishida-kun, you over-estimate me. I didn't notice anything out-of-the-ordinary," he chuckled.

Renji frowned. "What reaitsu? You should've mentioned something to Hitsugaya-taicho before he left."

The Quincy sighed and shook his head. "No, if Urahara didn't sense anything then it was probably my imagination." he stood slowly, and Renji followed him, brow furrowed. "Goodnight Urahara-san."

"Night Ishida-kun, Renji-san." the older man watched as the room emptied, and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

Things just got a lot more complicated.

XXX 

Shorter chapter today, sorry about that. School is busy right now, mid-terms and all, and I'm tired. But! There will be more tomorrow! Thanks for all the favs/follows/and most especially the reviews!


	18. Chapter 18

For anyone who might be wondering what I think Ichigo looks like, I did a re-color on this fabulous piece . . This is my re-color arrancar version: /01aznpivujf2. I did not draw this, I just added the mask, the hole, and altered some colors.

Maybe someday I'll actually be able to draw Ichigo and not mess up his hair lol.

Ok! On to the chapter!

XXX

The blond man sighed and once again, swiped his hand over his face, re-forming his mask. There would be no easy way to get it through the Espada's head, it seemed. He would just have to tire him out, otherwise there would be no listening from the arrancar.

His earlier statement of Ichigo being similar to shingami had freaked the poor kid out, the arrancar instantly getting to his feet and shouting something about his being out of his mind. Shinji was expecting that, but not expecting what came next. He supposed that was partly his fault, for not realizing that Hiyori would lunge at the kid.

Really, he had to put up with bunch of morons. Hiyori's attack launched the kid into full-on attack mode, and suddenly there were Ceros being shot everywhere. They were lucky that no one had gotten injured, luckier that the building was still standing, and luckiest of all was the fact that Hachi's barrier had not broken, shielding them from the shinigami in the town.

He lurched forward and brought a kick down onto the Espada's crossed arms, swinging upwards out of the way as Hiyori's feet impacted into the arrancar's stomach. He winced in sympathy: Hiyori didn't really know how to hold back. Ichigo went flying, before colliding into the opposite wall, and immeadiatly Hachi had placed kido restraints on the kid, effectively ending the scuffle. He made a quick motion towards Hiyori, and soon the short Visored was also restrained. He tuned out her complaints and curses, turning his attention to the Espada.

"So...you finally ready to listen?" the mask dissipated and he scowled down, brown eyes locking onto golden ones. The kid curled his lip, but didn't say anything, obviously worn out from the fight. "Good." he glanced towards Hiyori, and back at Ichigo. "Sorry about that one, she's slightly...touched."

"YEAH RIGHT, BALDY! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S _TOUCHED_ , LETTING THAT ESPADA TREAT US LIKE THAT!" he sighed, and flicked a hand to Hachi, and the kido restraint was extended to the girl's mouth.

"I can see that." Ichigo's comment made him quirk an eyebrow in suprise, before breaking out into a grin. _So, the kid had a sense of humor. That's a good sign._ The arrancar was staring up at him, his breathing having evened out. He didn't look too damaged. That was good, Shinji couldn't have an injured kid start training. "So...what did you mean? About...me being like a Soul Reaper?"

The man sighed, sitting down in front of Ichigo, crossing his legs and setting his chin on one hand. "How much do you know about the shinigami?" None of this would make sense unless the kid had some idea of how Soul Reapers worked.

"Not much." Ichigo frowned, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall. "They kill people like me, Hollows." Shinji narrowed his eyes in confusion. _People? Ichigo thought of Hollows as_ _people_ _?_ "They aren't living...I guess. They're spiritual beings."

"Well, yes. All of that is true." Shinji paused. "Shinigami were plus souls that crossed over to Soul Society. If they have strong enough reiatsu, they train their powers in an academy, and if or when they graduate they become Soul Reapers. The strongest of them are accepted into the 13 Court Guards." he studied Ichigo's face, but there was no reaction. "They live and die, same as living souls, and Hollows. But more importantly, they have _lives_." Now Ichigo looked confused.

"Lives? I don't understand." the arrancar tilted his head.

"..." Shinji's eyes slid closed. "Hollows' only goal is to eat. As an arrancar you have gained a bit more reason: you kill for power as well as food, and you set goals based around your power. But still, it's all instinctual, that's not much of an existence, nah?" Ichigo made a frustrated noise, and he opened his eyes, glancing at the Espada. "Shinigami take joy in rather 'human' activities: reading, writing, art, drinking, making friends, love. They can do this because they still possess their 'heart': their feelings, emotions." Ichigo fidgeted, suddenly restless and anxious. Shenji's eyes narrowed as the boy looked increasingly uncomfortable, pinning it down on the 'Hollow' side of him.

"Just. Like. You."

The dead ring of silence that followed was nearly unbeable.

At least until the worst possible thing happened.

The arrancar _snapped_.

XXX

So it's not very long again but I'm like, falling asleep typing. Sorry! I think though, that this chapter is very important even if it's not long. And if anything is non-canon compliant (other than, you know, making Ichigo a Hollow and skipping Soul Society arc and all that), just know I'm currently on Season 14 of the anime, so I don't know everything.


	19. Chapter 19

I realize that there are other fics similar to this one out there. However, I didn't 'steal' this idea from anyone, as I have refused to read those similar fics until this one is finished. This is merely to keep my story as my own ideas, not being influenced on other's speculations.

XXX

Massive amounts of reiatsu poured forth, the energy whipping around in waves around the bound arrancar who sat there as if in a daze. He was unaware even as the fatal words fell from his lips, "Awaken, Zangetsu," eyes unfocused as the transformation took him over. Shinji's eyes widened, and he leapt away from the boy in alarm, cursing.

The boy shifted and and jerked, his Resurreccion state forming white bone-like hierro on his body, his mask regrowing around his face, leaving only the bottom half uncovered. The stripes had thickened and ran vertically over each eye, stretching upwards into the two curved horns and down to the edge of his mask. The red stripes continued pat the mask, on the boy's skin, before forming around his Hollow hole and stretching back onto his shoulders. His hair fell way past his shoulders, and tufts of fur encircled his neck and wrists. His clothes were shredded, leaving only enough to cover his lower half. Any similarity the boy's eyes had previously had compared to human ones was gone, leaving only the glowing yellow irises that had extended into the normally white sclera. In short, he resembled a demon.

"Hachi, strenghten those bonds-" Shinji couldn't even get the sentence out before the Hollow roared and drowned him out, before flexing against the kido that restrained him. It dissipated easily, and the Espada growled low in his throat, head lowered and swinging slowly from side to side.

Shinji stood as still as possible, sensing that behind him his team was tensing, preparing for battle. They couldn't defeat the arrancar like this. Not when their own Hollow transformations were limited to three minutes, and the enemy had the mindset of a beast. He wasn't sure how much longer Hachi's barrier would hold, especially if they went all-out on the kid. They didn't have much of a choice. The Espada lowered his head, a cero forming in between his horns. "Shi-" Shinji pulled his own mask on and quickly countered with his own cero, the two cancelling each other out.

Another angry roar, and he barely turned in time to see the Hollow right behind him, slashing forward with his horns. Desperate, he flash-stepped away and blinked as he saw Hiyori step in between them, her own mask on and zanpakuto swinging upwards to slice at the creature's head. A lucky strike, as the right horn clattered to the ground. The Espada growled lowly, eyes narrowing and Shinji bit his lip as he saw the horn reforming. _Instant regeneration. Of course_.

By that time, all the other Visoreds were springing into battle, swinging here and there at the enraged arrancar, distracting him from focusing on any one of them for too long. Shinji nodded to himself, before leaping back into the fray. They would have to be careful: they could really only afford to battle him with masks on, and so they changed out as needed.

Some time later, and Ichigo wa pinned to the ground, Hachi's strongest kido holding him down. The Espada tried to form another cero, but he didn't see Kensei's attack coming until it was too late. Breathing hard, Shinji finally was able to catch his breath as he saw the kid go limp. Hachi didn't let up on the kido, though, and Shinji couldn't blame him. Slowly the resurreccion form left the arrancar lying helpless on the floor, and Shinji almost felt sorry for the kid.

It was going to take a lot more effort than he previously thought to get the Hollow to calm down and accept his shinigami nature. The healing process was going to be long and intensive.

He just hoped that when the kid woke up, he didn't hate him for it.

xxx

The silver-haired man paused by the steps leading up to the throne, turning his head to see the Cuatro Espada walking up to the doorway. "Ulquirorra-san," he purred, "is Aizen-sama expecting you back so soon?" the pale arrancar ignored him, continuing past and up to Aizen's throne. Gin huffed. "Unfriendly," he followed the Espada and brushed past him, turning to stand at the throne's right side. He cracked a small smirk at the other, which soon settled into a neutral expression as Aizen entered.

"Ulquiorra." the former shinigami spoke, sitting down and placing one hand on his knee. " Have you succeeded in your mission?"

The Espada bowed, before straightening up to speak. "I scouted the town, my lord, and found these individuals you spoke of. They are naught but flies compared to your power. The girl's abilities I did not get a chance to witness, but her spiritual pressure felt different than any other I have witnessed before."

Aizen nodded, brown eyes calculating. "I see. I believe she may be of use to us," he turned his head to look at Gin, before turning back to Ulquiorra. "Make preparations to bring her here, Ulquiorra." the Cuatro dipped his head before turning to leave. He had almost made it to the door, when Aizen's voice made him turn. "And Ulquiorra, where is Ichigo?"

The arrancar blinked slowly, turning to face the former shinigami. "The Quinto Espada was acting suspiciously from the moment we set foot in Karakura town." his emerald eyes held Aizen's gaze. "We split up to perform our duties, and sometime later I felt his reiatsu flare briefly. By the time I was able to give it much thought, he was gone. I couldn't sense him any longer and there was no trace of where he could have gone." Aizen narrowed his eyes, but sensed no lies from the Espada.

"Alright." he crossed his legs. "Ulquiorra-san, find Grimmjow and tell him to come here. I have a job for him." The pale man bowed, before leaving the room. "Gin." the former captain of the 3rd glanced at him curiously. " Was Ichigo displaying unusual behavior?"

"Not anything out of the ordinary, Aizen-sama." the man paused. "But I do have to wonder if it was the best idea to send him back to his hometown. That had to have stirred up some repressed emotions." he watched as Aizen sighed and leaned back, sweeping a hand through his hair.

"I have my reasons." Gin nodded. "That boy has potential to be a threat, and I want to see how far he can be pushed." the silver-haired man smiled wickedly.

"Of course, Aizen-sama."

xxx

"My son."

"Hmm?"

"My son."

"Yes, Ichigo, wasn't it?"

"I-I saw him yesterday."

Urahara looked up from his tea in surprise, focusing on the man in front of him. "What do you mean, you saw him? It's been quite some time since..." the look on the man's face was anguished and Kisuke felt a pang of regret. "You're sure?"

Isshin nodded, clutching his cup tighter. "I...I was a terrible father to him. I ignored him when he died, thought that a shinigami would be here soon to take care of it. But none came." he felt tears brimming in his eyes and pushed them away. "I acted like he didn't exist, and then...he became a Hollow. I thought that for sure the shinigami I had seen had taken care of him, that he was safe and happy in Soul Society, purified and finally able to rest. So when I saw him yesterday, I-I assumed he was a shinigami, graduated in such a short time and finally able to come visit. He was human in form, and had a zanpakuto strapped to his back and I thought..."

The shopkeeper set his cup down, folding his hands in his lap. "And?"

Isshin took a deep breath. "I couldn't have been more wrong," a tear fell into his tea. "Imagine my shock, seeing that broken mask, those yellow eyes, that gaping hole in his chest." Isshin hesitated, and Urahara sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eyes. "He- he, Ichigo, my son was a...an..."

"Arrancar."

The word hung heavy between them, before Isshin broke down in tears, clinging to the other man.

 _I'm sorry._

XXX

Alright! So that was fun to do, and a bit longer today! I finally finished a paper I was stressing over, and have nothing else due this week. I was struggling with what Ichigo would say to activate his Resurreccion form, as far as I know he never gave a command in the anime (up to season 14, at least, and I skipped the zanpakuto rebellion arc for now to make sense of this story), and I haven't read the manga, so if that's not canon, I don't know what to tell you. I chose "awaken" because it made the most sense to me, Ichigo's inner hollow 'awakens' and his zanpakuto 'awakens' in a sense in the canon. I was also considering 'slay', 'slash', 'kill', 'tear', and 'rip', but I decided to go a more metaphorical route. Stay with me, I am headed somewhere with this. Ichigo may be a hollow for now, but what will happen if Shenji can help 'heal' him? I believe his mixed heritage (even if I haven't read the manga, I can still use the Bleach wikia) will be coming into play there. * I have found a site with some manga uploads on it, and if it doesn't get taken down I am planning to read them* And for those of you wondering, this site will not let me post links in the text, so you can check out Ichigo's arrancar form on narutard277's Stash on Deviantart. This is my account, you'll find other fic artworks there. I'm probably better known by that name than I am by this one lol. Thank you so much for all the favs/follows/reviews so far, especially the reviews, and please continue to do so! I love to hear what you guys have to say. 'Til tomorrow!


	20. Chapter 20

Tha garganta opened in the nighttime sky of the living world, an empty void breaking up the tapestry of stars overhead.

"Heh. So this is the living world? Not much to look at. Seems like it was better back in my day." Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez threw his head back and laughed, before stepping out.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes, ignoring the blue-haired man and stepping through into the sky. He looked back at the fracciones the Sexta had insisted on bringing, and sighed. There was no telling how much damage they could cause. It was a simple mission for each of them: Ulquiorra was to grab the girl, Orihime. Grimmjow was to find Ichigo and bring him home. He really saw no specific reason on why the fracciones had tagged along, perhaps Grimmjow just wanted to cover a larger area at once?

"Alright! You all, spread out. You find anything, you find a way to let me know!" blue eyes darted in Ulquiorra's direction. "We're off, then."

The pale arrancar blinked, and the six others were gone by way of sonido. He shoved his hands in his pockets, sinking to the ground and heading towards the place where he could sense the girl's strange reiatsu.

He slipped past all sorts of living souls on the streets, their being unable to see him made it easy to weave through the crowd. He could have used sonido to reach the girl's home, he supposed, but he didn't wish to attract attention to himself, unlike that brute Grimmjow. Walking up the stairs to the small apartment, he could sense another, fainter, spiritual pressure inside. Perhaps there was a guest over? He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to have to spill blood over this, but the girl was coming with him. No matter what.

Tapping on the door lightly, he waited until it was opened by the girl. "Oh," she blinked at him, looking confused, "can I help you with something?" He frowned. The girl was not intimidated by his appearance, then.

"Orihime, who is it?" another voice called from inside, so there was another person.

"Inoue Orihime, correct?" the girl nodded, still looking puzzled. "You are coming with me. Say goodbye to whoever is inside and come peacefully, or else there will be trouble." That got her attention, and for the first time she seemed to take in his appearance. Her eyes landed on his Hollow hole and she gasped, backing away from the door. "And don't even think about using your powers against me. It won't make any difference, and as a result I'd have to kill your friend."

"T-Tatsuki-chan, I-I have to go." she called inside the house. _Smart girl._ "Sorry about this, but could you leave now?"

"Leave? Just who is it?" another girl came into his line of sight, and he stared at her, unblinking. "Orihime, I don't see anyone there, what's going on?"

"Please, Tatsuki-chan, just go, now." her eyes darted to Ulquiorra's and he nodded slightly to her, and she faked a smile. "I'm fine, I just remembered I have some things to do."

"Well, if you're sure," the other girl grumbled, grabbing her things, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Orihime." she brushed past him on her way out, and for a moment he saw her eyes go wide, and she stumbled. "Orihime? Who-who? Should I call the cops?" So, she had seen him then.

He darted out a hand, closing his fist around her throat, much to the dismay of the other girl. When he felt the girl go limp, he dropped her. The orangette darted to her side, shaking her and crying. "Relax. She only passed out. In the morning she won't remember a thing." he dragged her back inside and Orihime stood helplessly. "Write a note for her to find the next day. Assure that you are fine, that she won't ask any questions." his eyes narrowed, and the girl did as he had said.

"We're leaving now." he grabbed the teen's arm and pulled her outside, before leaping into the sky. She shrieked and clutched his arm, eyes wide. He glanced down at her, in confusion. Surely the girl had some experience with these things? She had, after all, been to Soul Society. _Maybe it was a human thing?_ "Aizen-sama is expecting you."

The sky split open once more.

xxx

 _Wha-what happened to me?_ He struggled to sit up, acutely aware of the bonds around his form. _I feel like I've been run over by a bus._ He groaned, the ache hitting him in full force now that he was fully conscious. _By a bus, that backed up and ran me over again._

Ichigo cracked open his eyes and sat up as best as he could, before focusing on the sitting figure in front of him. "Shinji?" he asked, confused. The Visored was clutching his zanpakuto in one hand, eyes narrowed. "Wha- what happened?"

"You tried to kill us all, that's what happened, fool." he turned his head slowly, taking in Hiyori sitting on a stack of crates to his right. "We're lucky that Hachi is so adept at kido, otherwise we'd have never stood a chance." He frowned, confused, and suddenly aware that it might be his fault he felt like he'd been bulldozed.

"I-I did-" he stopped, turning back to look at Shinji, remembering the words the other had spoken before he had blacked out. "You-you said something to me. And then I lost it," he guessed. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, exactly.

"Yes. You lost it." Shinji sounded pissed, and Ichigo couldn't blame him, taking in the other's appearance. He looked worse for wear, probably as bad as Ichigo felt. "It wasn't your fault though, kid. It was your Hollow's fault."

 _Well. As if he wasn't already confused enough._ "What the hell does that mean?" he growled, yellow eyes glinting.

The Visored leaned forward, expression neutral. "You are more than just a Hollow, Ichigo. Or haven't you ever wondered why you still felt such strong emotions? Why you still _cared_ about things? Why, when seeing your sisters and father, you didn't have any urge to kill them?" Shinji paused, letting the words sink in. "Ichigo, your Hollow is only one part of you. You have the potential to be _so_ much more. More in body, soul, mind." He smirked, "More in power."

The Espada blinked. Yes, he had wondered why he was different. Yes, he was confused about his emotions, his boredom with things the other Espada couldn't get enough of, his longing for something _more_. But Aizen had said it was just his transformation- "Aizen."

Shinji jerked away, as if he had been burned. "What?" he croaked.

"Aizen-san told me it was just an effect of the transformation." _Did he know, then? That Ichigo was... different?_ He looked up into Shinji's eyes. "I want you to prove it to me. Show me this power." His eyes glowed and he stared at the Visored. "Please, I don't want to feel empty anymore."

The blond swallowed, nodding slowly. "Yes. We'll help you discover the other side of yourself. We can help you understand your potential."

Ichigo grinned, flexing against the kido. "Well, let's get started then, shall we?"

He would get his answers.

Aizen would regret not telling him the truth.

He would finally be _whole_.

And maybe, just maybe, become the king of Hueco Mundo. There was always that.

XXX

Sorry this is kinda late for today but I didn't get inspired til late, so... Have some more buildup! Enter Grimmjow and get ready for some action! Soon we'll get to the Hueco Mundo arc, but of course it'll be different that canon. Btw, this is looking like it might end up being more than 31 chapters, so here's what I have to say about that at this moment: I will continue posting one chapter a day for October. After that, I'll see where the plot takes me and possibly (probably) continue this story, but it won't be a chapter every day. I really need to work on Hollow, sort myself out on that front, and stuff. So it might get reduced to a chapter a week. But we'll have to see.


	21. Chapter 21

"Why. Weren't. You. With. Her." Toshiro growled, glaring daggers at his lieutenant, who was looking properly ashamed and terrified, as well as still having a flush from her drinking earlier that evening. "ORIHIME IS GONE, MATSUMOTO. _GONE_. AS IN, SHE ISN'T EVEN _IN_ THE LIVING WORLD."

He had answered Rangiku's frantic call earlier, her asking if Orihime was with him. Of course she wasn't, he was at Urahara's making a report to Soul Society. He heard her make a panicked noise, and soon he was touching down at the girl's house, walking in to find Orihime's human friend slumped against the wall, and Rangiku clutching at what seemed to be a hand-written note from Orihime to the girl, saying something about how she was suddenly called away on urgent family matters. Which Toshiro knew was complete bull. What he didn't know was what had possessed his lieutenant to leave the girl alone, and why she was out drinking with the other two soul reapers.

He cursed, smacking a hand to his forehead. _This was a mess_. A snicker behind him made him whirl around, and suddenly he was pointing his zanpakuto at Ikkaku's throat. "I-I didn't-" the third seat paled, eyes wide. The blush on his face was even brighter than Rangiku's and Yumichika looked almost green.

"AND YOU TWO. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! WHAT WERE ALL OF YOU THINKING, DRINKING ON THE JOB?!" he sucked in a harsh breath in between his teeth and lowered the sword slowly. "You three are in so much trouble it's not funny." Yumichika sunk lower in his seat, and he heard Rangiku sobbing behind him. "Thank kami that Abarai has more sense than you three, otherwise Ishida might be gone as well." He swung his attention back around to the third seat. "You're just lucky that Chad was with Ishida or else you would be in even more trouble, Ikkaku." The bald man winced, breaking eye contact.

The red-haired shinigami huffed, leaning against the doorway. "Hitsugaya-taicho, shouldn't we be more worried about finding her right now? You can lecture these idiots later."

The tenth captain sighed and sheathed his zanpakuto. "I am worried about finding her, I just-"

The sharp spiritual pressures flared at the edge of his senses, moving about the town at an almost leisurely pace. They weren't friendly. They felt too much like a Hollow to be friendly. And they were _strong_. "I believe we have company." He glanced at his team, who had stiffened in alarm, and he knew they had felt it too. "Split up. Be careful." The three sobered up immediately, and Renji just nodded. And, in an instant, they were gone, leaving Toshiro standing alone in the small dining room of Urahara's shop.

"My, my, you certainly seem to have your hands full." Toshiro looked up as the former captain entered the room, hat pulled down low over his eyes. "There are more of them than there are of you, what are you going to do?"

He narrowed his eyes, certain that the shopkeeper had his own agenda in mind. "If you're offering your assistance, we'll take it. These intruders feel strong, I don't think any one of us could handle more than one of them."

"I had a feeling you would see it that way."

Toshiro rolled his eyes, "Then let's go." He flash-stepped away, heading towards the nearest enemy.

Urahara tapped his cane against the floor slowly, before calling into the other room, "Tessai, watch the kids and the brats. I'm going out."

This should be interesting. Finally, a chance to see an arrancar in person. Maybe he could even talk to Isshin's son. Kisuke smiled darkly, he would almost certainly get to test his limits tonight. Should he have warned the others of their power?

 _Nah._

xxx

The Espada shuffled his feet, looking around the fake landscape uncertainly. "So...you want me to do what?"

Shinji sighed, casting a glance towards Hiyori, who was obviously getting tired of having to repeat herself to the arrancar. She was tapping her foot, arms crossed over her chest. It wouldn't take much more to push her past the edge. He looked back at Ichigo, who looked utterly confused, even after the second explanation. He guessed he would just have to put it it in terms the kid could understand. "Ichigo-kun." the orange-haired teen looked up at him, yellow eyes looking somewhat dazed. "This isn't hard to do, in practice. It's just that the theory is going over your head. Maybe you should just sit down and try it, ne?" Fortunately, Ichigo didn't argue, and sat down on the dirt, crossing his legs. He breathed in slowly, closing his eyes.

"Empty your mind," Hiyori murmured, pacing back and forth. "Let everything go. All your thoughts, feelings, goals, everything. Just focus on breathing for now."

One yellow eye blinked open, "But I thought-" he cut himself short, seeing Shinji's head shaking 'no' frantically over the short girl's shoulder. "Nevermind." he shut his eyes tightly, breathing in and out.

Sometime later Shinji noticed the shift. He could see it in the way Ichigo's shoulders relaxed, the way that the breathing had steadied into an easy rhythm, but most importantly, the way that the sharp reiatsu had calmed, feeling more like his own in nature. He walked over to the Espada, kneeling in front of him. Yes, his face was much more serene, and the red marks under his left eye were faded in color. "Ichigo, can you hear me?" he asked quietly. A hum was given in response, and Shinji nodded. "Ichigo, I want you to keep doing what you're doing, and slowly open your eyes, ok? Whenever you feel like you can hold it." Another hum, this one accompanied by a slight nod, and the Visored sat himself in front of the arrancar. Around him, he could feel his team's stares, but he ignored them, focusing his senses on Ichigo. He sat patiently, closing his own eyes and waiting, til he felt another subtle change.

He opened his eyes slowly, holding his breath, and stared into brown eyes, vibrant and full of life. The red markings were gone from the arrancar's skin, and Shinji felt a rush go through him. If Ichigo could get this far in just a few _hours_ , then what could the kid achieve in a matter of _days_?

"So, am I doing it right?"

xxx

She was terrified. Who wouldn't be, in this world of unfamiliar darkness and threatening people? She flinched, gripping tighter to her kidnapper's arm as he walked her past the other arrancar and up to what looked to be a throne, with someone sitting on it. Ulquiorra bowed before the throne, shooting a glance her way and she followed suit, dipping into a bow herself. Then he pulled his arm from her, and pushed her lightly forward.

"Aizen-sama, I have retreived the girl known as Inoue Orihime. She is yours to do with as you see fit." That didn't sound promising. She gulped, before looking at the brown-haired man again. _Wait..._

"Aizen-sama? But..weren't you the one who hurt Kuchiki-kun?" the man just smirked, and the silver-haired man to the left chuckled darkly. A sharp grip on her shoulder made her flinch and she turned to Ulquiorra, eyes wide.

"You shouldn't speak so freely-"

"No, it's quite alright." the man on the throne spoke, and Ulquiorra released her, bowing once again. "Orihime-chan. Welcome to my kingdom, Las Noches. I hope you enjoy your stay. How is Kuchiki then?" he smirked down at her, and she felt a chill run through her bones. "Ulquiorra, escort her to your palace and keep her there until I have use of her. The rest of you, dismissed."

"Of course, Aizen-sama," more bows were made, and then she was taken away from the throne room, actually glad to be with Ulquiorra instead of being left alone with that man. _He gave her the creeps. And that silver guy next to him was just as bad._ She shuddered. They stopped in front of a spacious room, and she walked inside, looking around. Ulquiorra stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets. "This will be your room. In the morning I will send more appropriate clothing for you." she nodded, turning to look out the window. "Do not try to escape. Do not expect a rescue. You belong to us now." Orihime turned her head, opening her mouth to protest, but stopped at the look in those emerald eyes. Then the Espada was gone, and she was left alone, wondering why any of this had happened.

She wasn't aware when the tears began to fall.

XXX

Alright, another one down! Maybe next chapter we'll see some action, and not just character development. Oh and if you were wondering, if this seems rather fast, it's because I combined the arrancar attack (by Grimmjow and the fracciones) with Orihime's capture, when in the canon she isn't captured until later. Thank you so much guys for all the favs/follows/reviews, and please let me know what you think of the plotline/characters/writing style so far!


	22. Chapter 22

Yumichika sighed, glaring down at the enemy with frustration. "You're really ugly when you're dying, you know." Di Roy narrowed his eyes, glaring up with hatred, but unable to speak from the slashes across his body. The Fifth seat rolled his eyes and glanced away. _It really had been too easy. Was it supposed to be_ _this_ _easy?_

He hoped Ikkaku was having more fun on his end.

The enemy gave one last choked gasp, and Yumichika turned, one eybrow raised in question, only to see the body dissolve into what looked like ash. His brow twitched and he shuddered in disgust. "Pitiful."

xxx

Rangiku stood in front of the two enemies, barely noticing when her captain appeared by her side. "One for each of us, then." She nodded, eyes focused on the enemy. They were still, waiting for them to make the first move, it seemed. Toshiro took a step forward, and they tensed, she noticed with a smile. "You there, what are you?" the two looked at each other, then back at them.

The tall one laid a hand on his zanpakuto, and called back. "Shinigami, you have no idea what you're up against, do you? We are noble arrancar, Hollows who have transcended our animal-like state and gained similar powers to you Soul Reapers." _That explained the zanpakuto and the interesting clothing, then._

"Well most of us, anyway. Di Roy didn't really count. No wonder he got killed so easily." The fat one leered at her, taking her staring for something it was not, and she scrunched up her face in disgust.

Toshiro frowned, clearly bothered by the arrancar's statement, and she glanced at him. "Captain, maybe we should request gentei kaijo?" she murmured quietly, praying he would agree. His slight nod was all it took for her to reach up and touch her earpiece, calling into Soul Society, placing the request for every one of them still fighting. She had a feeling they would need it.

xxx

He tightened his grip on his zanpakuto, eyes dark. The 'arrancar' in front of him looked entirely too comfortable being in the living world. It was pissing him off. That, and his nonchalant attitude over the death of his own comrade. That was almost too much, even for a Hollow. "Bankai." he growled, feeling the rush as his reiatsu spiked and cloaked him, and Zabimaru expanded into its more powerful serpent-like form. Yylfordt Granz, as he had said his name was, drew his own zanpakuto, eyes lighting with a cold menace.

They collided with the ring of steel on bone, and scraped against each other before Renji pushed the other away, crying out and directing Zabimaru forward once again. This continued for quite some time, til the arrancar flicked him away with a sigh. The shinigmai barely had time to blink before he was knocked away, skidding to a halt only to look down at the blood dripping from his body. Another blow, and he fell towards the ground, barely managing to catch himself.

"Freeloader-san!" he turned his head toward the voice, eyes wide. _What were the kids doing here?_ He frowned, suddenly realizing he was right over head of Urahara's shop, and that the kids were on the roof, as well as Ishida and Chad, who were standing protectively in front of them. Or trying to, at least. "Jinta, get back here!" Ishida grabbed at the kid's arm, but the red-haired boy shoved him off easily. Chad was holding tightly to Ururu's wrists, but it seemed like she was fighting him. Then a flicker of motion, and he gasped in horror as the little girl jumped into the air.

"Really? You think that-" the arrancar managed to get out before the girl was on top of him, and, to put it frankly, kicking his sorry ass. Abarai blinked, throughly confused, before the whole thing went sour.

Renji watched in horrified fascination as the arrancar growled lowly, "Impale, Del Torro," and changed in front of his eyes. A curved horn slashed upwards, catching the girl by suprise. The shinigami stared, feeling utterly helpless as Ururu was stabbed and flung away by the beast, leaving his horn stained with blood.

"URURU!" Jinta screamed, breaking free of Ishida's grip and darting forwards to catch the girl.

Renji's head jerked upwards as the arrancar stood over him, horns lowered wickedly. "You're next, shinigami."

He could really use that gentei-kaijo right about now.

xxx

Ikkaku cursed and spat blood from his mouth, suddenly wishing he'd hadn't been the one to suggest drinking earlier. If he hadn't then this battle surely would have been going more smoothly, and he wouldn't be feeling the pressure into using his bankai, especially not in front of the others. However, he wasn't counting on the arrancar's strength.

He blinked and stumbled backwards, aware that yet another cut had been struck. The guy didn't like fighting for sport, he'd said, but hell, he sure was inflicting a lot of non-lethal and consequently annoying wounds. He eyed the arrancar, who wouldn't even state his name with contempt. Some people really had no sense of courtesy.

Well, he'd just have to beat the manners into him.

"Bankai."

xxx

Grimmjow froze, cerulean eyes wide. _Di Roy?_ His fraccion was defeated, dead, gone. He snarled, face contorting in anger, speeding to the spot he'd sense the reiatsu flare and vanish, only to find a smug-looking soul reaper standing around looking bored.

"You the one that killed Di Roy?" he hissed, fangs flashing.

The other took a step back, hand reaching for his zanpakuto, but he didn't stand a chance. The Espada used his sonido to catch the guy unawares, gripping the wrist tightly in his left hand.

"I said." the shinigami's eyes were wide, tearing up with the bone-crushing pressure Grimmjow was using on his wrist. "You kill Di Roy?" his voice was low and dangerous, and the other paled, and Grimmjow took that as a 'yes'. His right hand came up to lock around the guy's throat, slowly applying the same pressure there. "You're gonna regret killing my fraccion, Soul Reaper."

"Oh, is that what you call them? How interesting."

The Sexta turned his head slowly, the shock of another voice breaking his concentration, loosening his grip on the other for just a second, which was apparently enough for the man to break from his grasp and fall to his knees, gasping and clutching at his wrist, agony written all over his features. He glared down at the weakened soul reaper in contempt, "Keh." He shot out a leg and kicked the injured man away from him, more than ready to focus on destroying this new enemy. He could always come back to kill him later.

His new prey stood leaning on a cane, wind whipping at his cloak and hat pulled low over his face. A slight smirk lit the man's features, only serving to piss him off. "Eh? Who're you, old man?"

"Old man?" the guy sounded genuinely hurt, which made the arrancar growl lowly. "Surely I don't look _that_ old." he rolled his eyes, but before he knew it the man's cane was touching his chest lightly and he reached out a hand to grab it startled. "I prefer the term _experienced_."

Then there was a flash, and blinding pain took over.

xxx

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. In again, out again. In again, out again. In, out. In...Out...

Ichigo didn't know how much longer he could stand this 'training'.

He stood slowly, still controlling his breathing like the Visored had instructed. He was getting better, holding his new form for longer amounts of time each time he managed it. Right now he was sitting at eight seconds. He didn't know what really was going on inside him, but he felt calmer. Like he used to, _before_ he had died.

He was standing now, still focusing on maintaining that sense of 'calm'. If he could stand and be calm, then, theoretically, he could fight and be calm. Or, at least, that was the eventual goal.

He shouldn't have thought about fighting. "Crap." the air exhaled out of him all at once and he was knocked flat on his back, his inner voice screaming at him to stop, to cut it out, that he was only hurting himself. He grit his teeth, digging his fingers into his own arm to stop himself from lashing out at the nearby Visoreds. At least they were keeping their distance now, one punch to the face for Shenji was enough to keep all of them safely out of range.

But, he supposed, the voice did have a point. It did hurt. Letting go of all the anger, the pain. It hurt a lot. That was what had been keeping him alive for over four years now. It was hard letting go, but when he did...he felt so much more _human_.

And _how_ he had _missed_ that feeling.

He just hadn't known it at the time.

XXX

I still think that fight scenes are hard. But I'm trying to get more comfortable with writing them, so please, if you have pointers on how to do a good action scene let me know in the reviews.


	23. Chapter 23

The red dragon burned vibrantly in the night, lighting the bald soul reaper's face in a threatening way. Ikkaku threw his head back and laughed, jumping forward and putting his all into the battle, whirling and whirring around the arrancar. He flicked himself out of harm's way more often than not, and he now stood across from the enemy.

Panting heavily from the wounds, he decided that the next attack would be the last. He would either finish the enemy off or die as he lived: fighting. The arrancar seemed to sense the gravity of the moment, and they faced off in the sky. Then there was movement and pain and a thrill, and silence.

He fell forward, blacking out from the exertion, barely registering the ash disappearing on the wind. All he could think was that he wished he could have drawn it out a little longer. He hadn't had that much fun in ages.

xxx

Rangiku watched, emotionless as the sand that was her zanpakuto cut the arrancar into pieces. The gentei kaijo had been incredibly useful. She couldn't believe how weak the arrancar was in comparison to her released power. She might have been losing before, but as the sand suddenly mingled with ash, she knew it was over. She recalled Haineko, before daring to look up at her captain.

Toshiro was standing in front of the arrancar who was half-frozen and unable to do anything about it. The petals behind him were down to the last two, but the enemy was pretty much done for. It seemed that the captain was in deep conversation with the enemy, who suddenly stiffened when the white-haired boy nodded. Then a flash, and the ice shattered, breaking into a million shards.

She watched as he sank to her level, eyes dark. "Taicho? Learn anything?" the captain nodded, sighing.

"Orihime is in Hueco Mundo. Apparently another arrancar, called Ulquiorra was tasked with kidnapping her earlier this evening."

Rangiku's eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth in shock. Poor, sweet little Orihime? What did the Hollows want with her?! "Bu-but why? Why would they need a human girl-"

"You know as well as I of her powers. It seemed Aizen thought them interesting as well." he growled, and Rangiku took a step back. "For what purpose, the arrancar didn't know. All I know is that if Aizen is involved, it must be extremely important and we must get the girl back as soon as possible."

The lieutenant nodded, still aware that it was partly her fault the girl was gone. She vowed to get her back, even if her life depended on it.

xxx

The arrancar's disbelief was almost painful for Renji to see. The hollow made a choked, gasping sound, before falling to his knees. "You-you beat me," he sighed, lurching forward and fading away on the breeze. The soul reaper released his bankai, dropping to one knee himself.

He glanced down at the roof, where Ishida and Chad still stood, watching him. Ururu had been ushered inside, Jinta screaming for Tessai. He was sure the girl was doing better now, especially if Tessai had been healing her. She was a tough one.

His eyes slid shut and he jerked forward, until a pair of arms slipped behind him, supporting him. He rolled his head to look up at Chad, and gave the teen a tired smile. Then he passed out.

He woke up a few minutes later, laying flat on his back and seeing the glow of healing over his form. He turned his head to the left to see Ururu under the same kind of glow, and breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Rest, Abarai." His eyes closed and he drifted off.

He didn't know who had spoken.

xxx

His body flew through the air, he hadn't even had a chance to stop the attack. He had a feeling this one would leave a mark, even with his hierro and regeneration abilities. Biting down on his lip, Grimmjow tilted his head downwards, eyeing the damage to his chest. _Shit._ He was bleeding all over the place, and it hurt to breathe. This was not how the mission was supposed to go _at all_. He was supposed to find Ichigo and get back to Las Noches, not battle the shinigami in Karakura. Aizen had specifically warned _against_ battling the shinigami.

The Sexta groaned when he collided with a nearby building, the force of the blast having pushed him away from the man. He was going to be sore in the morning for sure. His head hung low, blue locks falling into his eyes, when he recognized feet coming closer to him. He blinked, confused, and looked up. "I didn't think I hit you that hard, arrancar." the man purred, leaning on the cane. The Espada growled lowly and spat at the man, before settling into his familiar smirk.

"Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Don't you forget it." he pushed himself off the wall, lurching forward slightly. "I'm going to make you regret the day you decided to mess with-" he blinked, going still. Somewhere out there, he could feel the other battles occurring. Somewhere out there his fracciones were losing. And then they were gone. _All of them._

"Well. I'm screwed." he muttered, eyes flashing bright. "Aizen won't be too happy that I got all my fracciones killed in their first battle." His smirk shifted into a manical grin and he laughed darkly. "At least I can take you out." He used his sonido to get right underneath the man, drawing his zanpakuto in one swift motion and thrusting upward with the sharp blade.

"Oh-hey!" the green-and-white hat flew off, a few strands of hair having been sliced away. Urahara leapt backwards, eyes wide. "I assumed you didn't have the energy left for that. My mistake." Grimmjow narrowed his eyes and darted forward again, this time to be blocked by the man's cane. Frustrated now, he hacked away at the man, but every attack was countered.

"Cero," he chuckled at the man's expression, shooting off the collected energy in the man's face. _Surely that had to have- Of course not._ The attack was knocked off course by the man's cane and the Sexta cursed. He was just about to shoot another when all his sensors went haywire.

He jerked his head to his right, where a familiar black garganta ripped apart the sky. A white-clothed figure stood in the 'doorway' and Grimmjow narrowed his eyes. "Tousen," he spat.

"Come. You have failed in your mission and managed to get five numeros killed. Aizen is not pleased." the blind man frowned at him and Grimmjow had to restrain himself from launching himself at him. Everything about him just pissed him off.

"Keh." he eyed the man before turning his back on him and stepping into the garganta. "This isn't the last of me you'll see."

Kisuke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when the arrnacar disappeared with the former soul reaper. "Well." he lowered himself to the ground and picked up his hat, dusting it off and placing it back on his head.

"Seems like everyone's going to need more training than I previously had calculated."

XXX

Okay! We're moving right along! Please review! Thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed so far! I keep writing mostly for you guys :)


	24. Chapter 24

"Head Captain." Toshiro stood in Urahara's shop, in front of the makeshift dvice that allowed him to contact Seireitei. "Aizen has captured the human girl Inoue Orihime, for what purposes we do not know, but I believe it is extremely important to retrieve her as soon as possible." Behind him the other shinigami shuffled on thier feet, patched up enough to allow them to report in, but too wounded to be able to do much more right now. Chad and Ishida stood slightly off to the side, watching silently.

The old man frowned, leaning forward. He reached a hand up to scratch at his nose, "Just how was the girl taken? Weren't you watching her, Matsumoto?"

The lieutenant flushed and took a step forward, opening her mouth to speak when Ikkaku threw a hand in front of her. The third seat of the 11th bowed deeply. "It is my fault. I asked Matsumoto-fukutaicho away from her duties. I take full responsibility." Toshiro noticed he didn't mention the drinking party.

The head captain opened his eyes slightly, eyeing the three soul reapers who looked incredibly guilty. He sighed. "Very well. You will all be properly punished when you get back. Return as soon as possible."

Ishida took a step forward. "You're calling them back? But we need to rescue Inoue! We have to leave at once, she could be in dang-"

"No." the silence rang in Toshiro's ears. "We can not afford to attack Hueco Mundo." The head captain tapped his staff against the ground. "By the results of yesterday's battles and the information gained from the arrancar it is imperative that all shinigami return to fortify Soul Society. The life of one girl is but a small price to pay for the world."

"WHAT?! WHAT?!" Renji grabbed onto Ishida's arms and held him back, the Quincy screaming at the Head Captain. "You mean to tell me that Orihime doesn't matter, that-"

 _"ENOUGH!"_ The room went dead silent. "Boy, I respect you as a Quincy, as an asset to Soul Society. But we are not ready to start a war with Hueco Mundo. Therefore we will not commit an act of war. If you choose to act, you do so alone." Ishida glared, and Toshiro bowed before the Head Captain. "Dismissed." The screen went dark, and the white-haired captain turned towards the others.

"We're leaving." He saw the looks of discomfort on his team's faces, and Ishida's hot gaze. "I'll talk to the Head Captain about it, Ishida. But for now we must abide by his orders." The Quincy cursed and broke free from Renji's grip, stalking out of the room. Chad followed. The shinigami stood awkwardly looking at each other, and Toshiro sighed. "Matsumoto, open the Senkaimon."

"Ah, before you go," Urahara popped his head inside the door, "could you possibly pay me what you owe for all the damages you've caused?"

xxx

Grimmjow dipped his head before Aizen, resisting the urge to just get out and kill something. The former soul reaper looked down at him, eyes blank. "Well, Sexta? You failed to find Ichigo and you managed to get five numeros killed. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

He grit his teeth and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sharp laugh. "Failed? I was getting to the mission when my team was set upon by the shinigami. It isn't my fault they challenged us."

"Aizen-sama expressly told you not to get involved with the soul reapers. You should have kept your spiritual pressure down so they didn't notice you. In my opinion, you were looking for a fight." Tousen stated, off to Grimmjow's right.

The blue-haired man snarled and rolled his eyes. "No one asked you, Tousen."

"Actually, Tousen's right." His head snapped up to lock eyes with Aizen, and he frowned. "You were to bring Ichigo home. You were not to engage the enemy. You failed in both of these aspects. You will be punished." Aizen made a nod to Tousen, and Grimmjow laughed.

"Punished? Hah, what is it that you could do to me that would actually-" he blinked, looking down at his bleeding right arm. Well, what _used to be_ his right arm. His mouth opened in protest, but a harsh gasp came out instead, as the pain hit him.

"Burn it." the command from the throne fell upon his ears and he whipped his head from the arm to the throne, eyes wide. He choked, turning helplessly only to see Tousen ignite his severed arm in a blaze of kido. He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, letting his anger wash away the pain. "Do you understand now, Grimmjow?"

He managed a sharp nod, fangs flashing briefly, "Yes, Aizen-sama." His jacket flapped angrily behind him as he made a swift exit.

Aizen turned to look over at Gin, who was smirking. "In a week, I'll test the girl's power on Grimmjow. But I want him to think on this for a while. Remind me." Gin nodded, tilting his head.

"Of course, Aizen-sama."

xxx

A minute.

That was about how long he could hold his calmed state now. He could even hold it while moving around a little, as long as he didn't let the fear creep back into his mind. When the minute was up, he was left feeling restless with an underlying feeling of anger.

For now, though, Ichigo stretched his legs, moving around the fake landscape, practicing holding down his emotions. The Visored had congratulated him on his success, and then they went to bed. Well, except for Shenji, who was currently on watch duty. Ichigo didn't feel the need to sleep, but he was getting rather bored. So he talked to Shenji.

"How did you become a Visored?" the blond stiffened, and Ichigo frowned. He had been able to infer that it wasn't a natural process, and he was curious as to what could have caused it.

"That's not really something I want to talk about in detail." the other muttered, clenching his fist. "Let's just say I want to see Aizen's downfall."

"Aizen-sama?" the arrancar tilted his head. "Aizen used to be a shinigami, so were you one too?"

"Yes." the blond narrowed his eyes. "It's Aizen's fault we were expelled from Soul Society. He made us into monsters."

"Hey, I'm not a monster." Ichigo protested.

"Not anymore," he heard Shenji mumble, and he sighed, sitting down.

"So what makes me so different, then?" the Quinto asked, raising an eyebrow. "How come I have so much more potential to become closer to a shinigami than the other arrancar?"

The Visored huffed and sat down in front of him, crossing his legs. "First of all, Ichigo, it has to do with your ancestry."

The arrancar tensed and stared at the ground. "I don't want to know anymore about that." He still couldn't shake his father's reaction to him.

"I thought not. But..." Shenji raised a hand to scratch his nose, and Ichigo's currently brown eyes locked onto his. "More than that, I guess it's just who you are. You're a good person, Ichigo. It's just that when you died you forgot that, and no one in Hueco Mundo was able to remind you."

"Oh." that made sense, actually. "So if I hadn't had died...or...if I hadn't had become a Hollow, then..."

"Then you could very well have been a soul reaper right now, going through Visored training." Shenji smirked, chuckling at the absurdity. Ichigo smiled and leaned back, chuckling himself. Then Shenji was leaning close to him, staring intently at him, eyes narrowed.

"What?" he asked, eyes wide. "Do I have something-"

"Shh." a hand reached towards him, and Shenji rested his hand on Ichigo's chest.

"Wha- what are you-" he started, feeling uncomfortable.

"How long have you been holding it?"

"What?" he blinked at the Visored, squirming under the other's touch.

"Your calmed state. How long?"

Ichigo frowned, thinking. "I don't know." he thought back to the last time it had dissipated. "Since a little before the start of this conversation? Why?" he looked down at Shenji's hand and gasped.

His hole was gone.

The arrancar looked back up to the grinning Visored.

"I think we'll be able to move on soon."

xxx

She paced the empty halls restlessly. She was getting bored, tired of healing, tired of not knowing what was happening to her friends, tired of being useless. She had been taken off suspension and review, as it became clear that Urahara had manipulated her prolonged stay in the living world, and that the goal there was to keep Aizen from the Hogyoku.

However, that did not mean she was allowed to do anything. She was still healing after all, and Ukitake had insisted that she not be given any duties while she was healing. Even if she felt like it.

Rukia sighed and headed outside, sitting in the courtyard and watched the ripples on the koi pond's surface. _This is so boring._ She looked up at the sound of footsteps, and practically jumped to her feet.

"Renji?" she asked in suprise, eyes wide. "I thought you were stationed to look after Ishida and the others-" his dark expression caused her to stop talking, and she tilted her head. "What is it?" She took note of the cloaks he held in his arms and a slight thrill went through her.

"Orihime was kidnapped and taken to Hueco Mundo. The Head Captain won't make a formal rescue party, and I just know Chad and Ishida will do something stupid."

Rukia blinked, that was a lot of information all at once. "What're we still doing here, then?" Renji grinned, tossing her a cloak. "Just give me a minute to get changed."

Finally, she would be able to prove she wasn't useless after all.

XXX

Woo! I actually started writing earlier today and I still couldn't manage to get everything done at a reasonable hour. Oh well.


	25. Chapter 25

To the lovely guest that posted those last two reviews: Yes, I know that Ichigo is a Qunicy. I get it. But we haven't gotten there yet. And about Yoiruichi, I just have a really hard time of writing her character. She's around, doing stuff, but I can't really write from her POV. Sorry. She's so well-written in the show, I have a hard time trying to get all aspets of her personality down. But hey, since you asked, I'll write her in for a bit here. Anyway... let's get started, ne?

XXX

A week. She had sat at the window for a week, and the view hadn't changed at all. Same dark sky, same white sands, same moon-frozen in time. She sighed, pulling at the white collar around her throat. The new clothes weren't really her style, persay, but Ulquiorra had been quite insistent upon her wearing them. She cast a glance towards the door. _Almost time_.

He came at the same time every day to check on her, bring in food, and ask her a few questions. She supposed it was to keep her sane, after all she had nothing else better to do. However, she also suspected a hidden motive, because now she was generally looking forward to the Espada;s visits. The pale arrancar listened politely to everything she had to say, never interrupting, and seemed genuinely intrigued by her responses. Orihime bit her lip. He probably just wanted to understand why humans were so weird.

The door swung open slowly, snapping her out of her trance. She frowned at Ulquiorra's empty-handed appearance, expecting there to be food. "Ulquiorra-san, is something-"

"Come. Aizen-sama has requested you."

The girl repressed a shudder and swallowed, walking forward to take the arrancar's arm. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this. At all.

xxx

Ishida stood with Chad in Urahara's shop. It had taken the shopkeeper a week to get everything in order for them to travel to Hueco Mundo. The Quincy grit his teeth and pushed his glasses up, eyeing the woman standing in front of them. "What do you mean, Urahara _isn't_ here?" he growled.

The woman flicked her long purple hair over her shoulder and gave him a bored look. "He's not here. He went off to get something, saying he'd be back as soon as he could. Look, we know that this rescue mission is very important and all..." she trailed off, peering over Ishida's shoulder. His brow twitched and he clenched his fists, before hearing, "Oh. He's back."

Ishida turned his head, only to gape open-mouthed at Urahara and who was following behind him. There was no mistaking those two. "Abarai?! Kuchiki?!"

"My, my, someone is certainly impatient," Kisuke chuckled, waving his fan at the Qunicy as he brushed past him and headed into the store, going to the back and down the hidden stairs. Ishida blinked, quickly shutting his mouth and turning back to stare at the two soul reapers.

"Yo, Ishida! You didn't think we'd let you go by yourselves, huh?" the red-haired shinigami clapped a hand on Ishida's shoulder, following Urahara inside.

Rukia blushed slightly, glancing off to the side. "Ishida-kun. Sado-kun. It's good to see you both." She smiled at them, tilting her head slightly. "Let's go get Orihime back."

Chad nodded, turning and going inside, and Rukia tugged on Ishida's wrist, pulling him after her.

Yoruichi smirked, golden eyes filled with amusement.

Sometimes the Quincy boy was just _too_ easy.

xxx

He lay on the ground, staring up at the fake sky-ceiling. It had been a while since he'd been outside, and even longer since he'd seen the blue sky. Hueco Mundo was so dark and dreary, and when he arrived in the living world about a week ago it had been evening-not a blue sky.

Ichigo sighed, adjusting his position slightly. He had been becoming increasingly more comfortable with his new 'power', though he wondered if he was really allowed to call it that. He hadn't actually _done_ anything with the new form, just concentrating on holding his calm. He'd been stable for the past two days, looking ever closer to the Visoreds in his outer appearance. His hole had closed up, though it left a faint scar-like ring in its place, and the only thing differentiating him from the others was the remainder of his mask. He didn't want to rip it off, remembering how much pain the initial transformation into an arrancar had brought. But he was curious. If he ripped it off, would he die as a Hollow? Or would he transcend and become something _more_? He didn't know. And he wasn't quite ready to test that theory out. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. He bit his lip, frustrated and getting restless.

Every Espada represented some 'aspect' of death, he'd learned when he was first transformed. Because he was 'artificial' (Aizen had caused his transformation to occur much quicker than he would have naturally), he had had a hard time figuring out what he was 'representing'. But Grimmjow had laughed at him when he brought it up, and the others ignored it. Well, except for Ulquiorra, who'd said, "isn't it obvious?" Like that was at all helpful.

Eventually he figured it out. He was, in every aspect, a representation of death in the form of curiosity, or daring. It was what had killed him-his trying to save the woman. It was what had made him a Hollow- his longing for things he could never have and wanting to know what they were like, how his family treated his birthday. It was what had drawn him back the living world while he was a menos- he wanted to know where the prey had gone and why. It was what led him to striking a deal with Aizen-he had wanted to know what power felt like. And, he supposed, it was why he was still here with the Visoreds- he wanted to know how much stronger he could get.

He reached up and hooked his fingers under the edge of his mask.

What did he have to lose?

He pulled.

XXX

Sorry to cut this one a little short but I'm so tired uggh... Tomorrow! What will happen? Oh the suspense! By the way, do you guys realize I'm writing this as I go? I don't actually have anything set in stone before I write a new chapter. I just have an idea, and I make it up as I go along. So really, if you have something you want to see/needs fixing/ etc, review and I will take it into consideration before writing. You guys are very important to me!


	26. Chapter 26

Screaming. Someone was screaming. He blinked before realizing it was himself. But yet, it wasn't him. At least, he didn't think it was him. It was that guy over there. _Huh._ He wasn't expecting _that_. His eyes landed on the other man who was doubled over in pain, now gasping and wheezing instead of screaming.

" _WHY'D_ YA DO THAT?!" he cringed at the shrill yell directed his way, and locked eyes with the other. Well, locked eyes with himself. Or some version of himself. Yellow irises in black sclera, white hair, skin, blue tongue, hollow hole in his chest. He took a step back, reaching for the sword usually on his back, only to find nothing. "Oh, no, no ya don't. You don't get to act like ya have no idea who I am. Who _we_ are," the white figure cackled, pointed behind him, and another figure materialized, this one dark and brooding. Ichigo barely had time to register that fact before he was down on the ground, his legs knocked out from underneath him, and the pale version of himself pinned him to the ground. "Sit down, king. Stay awhile."

Well, he didn't really have a choice, did he?

He shouldn't have pulled the mask off.

xxx

It was frustrating not having two hands. He kept trying to reach for things, only to be confused and then remember it was gone. Grimmjow snarled, cursing Tousen and Aizen under his breath. He hadn't been stripped of his title as Sexta, but he figured it was only because Aizen would look weak if two Espada were incompetent. However...he knew he couldn't fight the way he used to. And that really ticked him off.

When he was summoned to Aizen's throne room, he almost didn't go. He really didn't want to see the former soul reaper's smug face looking down at him, and he didn't want to be in the same room as Tousen. He couldn't guarantee the other would walk away afterwards. But he went anyway, knowing that it could only get worse if he started disobeying now.

The blue-haired arrancar walked through the doors, startled to see the other Espada hanging around. Maybe Aizen intended to deal a more public humiliation after all. He grit his teeth and walked up to the throne, bowing. "You called, Aizen-sama?" his voice dripped with distaste.

"Grimmjow. Have you reflected on your actions?" _Only every freaking minute._ He choked down the growl and managed a neutral expression, dipping his head in response. "How would you like your arm back, then?"

He froze, eyes wide. _The bastard was teasing him_. He _had_ to be. There was _no way_ for that to even be possible, Tousen had _incenerated_ it. Behind him he heard the other Espada shuffling on their feet, and Nnoitra chuckled lowly. The Sexta scratched at his chest, forcing himself to remain collected. "I'd like to see how you could make that happen, Aizen-sama."

The man leaned back onto the throne and smirked. "Do I look like a liar to you?" _Yes_. He closed his eyes and exhaled, rocking onto the balls of his feet.

"Of course not, Aizen-sama."

"Ulquiorra, bring Orihime in." His cerulean eyes opened in confusion. _Who?_ He turned towards the door, it opening to reveal the Cuatro and the human girl, who looked scared out of her mind, but she was keeping her chin up. Heh. He had to give her credit, there. Still, he had to wonder where Aizen was going with this.

She walked up to the throne, bowing at the waist. "Aizen-sama."

"Orihime. Heal Grimmjow's arm." He inhaled sharply, fangs flashing. He couldn't be serious. He turned to the girl, but saw nothing in her expression that would give anything away.

Her eyes darted to his arm and he glanced away, uncomfortable under her gaze. "I still don't see-" he stopped as the girl stepped up to him, putting her arms out and saying something he didn't quite catch. Then an orange glow surrounded his stump, and he watched in amazement as bone, tendons, flesh and skin reconstructed right in front of his eyes.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez flexed his arm, curling his fingers into a fist. It was his arm. It wasn't a new one, it wasn't a prosthetic, it was his arm. He grinned darkly as the Espada behind him whispered amongst themselves.

The Sexta was ready for action.

xxx

"Are we there yet?"

Ishida grit his teeth and ignored the complaining behind him.

"Are we there yet now?"

Well, he tried to ignore it.

"What about now?"

"NO! Renji, no. We are not there yet," he growled, the edges of the path flickering in response to his anger. "Just shut up."

He heard a smack behind him and 'ow' so he figured Rukia must have slapped the red-haired shinigami.

Well, he deserved it.

xxx

"This isn't good, is it?" Shinji glanced up at Hiyori, her voice had trembled slightly as she stared down at Ichigo. The Visored blinked as he kneeled by the boy's side. "Like, he really wasn't ready for this step, huh?" He sighed, turning his attention back to the pale form. "Do you think he'll die?"

"I don't know." the Visored muttered, brushing his fingers over the boy's bleeding face. "All we can do is hope that he can subdue the Hollow, and with his other limiter...well, the best we could hope for there is that he can tolerate it." He pushed his arms underneath the limp body and held him close to his chest, standing up.

"You going to take him to Urahara?" Kensei asked, standing off to the side. "You don't think Hachi is good enough to-"

Shinji's sharp glare shut him up, and he turned to face Hachi. "No offense, Hachi. I just think Urahara might know something more about hollows. He doesn't really need the kind of healing you can offer." The big man nodded, and Shenji made his way to the stairs.

"So you're leaving us here?" Hiyori called. "Fine. We'll keep training without ya, then."

The Visored rolled his eyes and continued upwards, into the warehouse and past the door, stepping out into the cool night air. He flash-stepped to the shop, and landed outside the door, letting his spiritual pressure be known.

Kisuke rushed out immediately, and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the limp figure in the Visored's arms.

"Well, Shinji-kun," he tilted the green-and-white hat up. "You should have called first."

XXX

Wow this is late today. Sorry, sometimes the inspiration doesn't strike til late at night.


	27. Chapter 27

The white sands seemed to stretch out forever. Rukia looked around blankly, trying to discern some landmark on the endless horizon. Something that might tell them where Orihime was. But there was nothing. Only dunes and scraggly trees. It all looked the same.

She sighed, turning back to her friends and seeing them in a similar state. "Guess we better start walking, then," she murmured, starting to the north.

"But what if we go the wrong way, then what will happen to Inoue? What if we're too late by the time we figure out where we're supposed to be going?" Ishida stopped her, and she turned to look at him over her shoulder. He had a valid point.

"We can't worry about that right now," Renji spoke, scratching at his nose. "It would be great to know where we are, sure, but we don't and we're going to have to start somewhere. Unless you see someone you can ask for directions?" he chuckled, clapping a hand on the boy's back. "Come on. North is as good a direction as any to start."

She heard the Quincy grumbling under his breath, but he followed, and soon they were walking across the sands. She didn't know how long they had been walking when Chad suddenly stopped. Turning her head to look at him, she quickly drew her zanpakuto.

Something was headed straight for them. Something big, and very much hollow.

"Well, looks like I can ask for directions now, doesn't it?" Ishida smirked, drawing his bow. Renji grumbled under his breath and rolled his eyes, before settling into a defensive stance.

Rukia smiled slightly. Those two had become good friends while she was healing.

She just hoped they had become good at working together as well.

xxx

"Who-who are you?" he asked, staring up at the man sitting on top of him. "What do you mean I shouldn't act like I don't know you? I don't!" Ichigo growled, struggling to sit up. "Where am I?" He was starting to get frustrated with...whoever this was.

"Relax, king. If I wanted ta hurt ya, I would have already." he tapped a white finger against his chin. "Actually, I kinda do want ta hurt ya. But you should at least know why before I do." Ichigo's eyes widened and frowned.

"You keep calling me that. King. Why? I'm no royalty." he protested, finally giving up on getting out from underneath the other.

"Of course you are." he turned to look at the other figure, who had walked up and sat on the ground next to him. "You are the ruler of this place, and we are just its inhabitants." _Okay. That made almost no sense._ But the white-haired man seemed to agree, nodding his head.

"You're in charge here, Ichigo. We exist to serve ya." the dark man scoffed at that, which made the Espada think something was off about that statement. But no further protest came, so he supposed he must believe it for now. "The problem is you won't let us help. Ya always want ta do everything on your own."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "I didn't even know you existed. And you still haven't explained that-"

"Why, king, don't ya know your own horse?" the white figure leaned in close, grinning darkly. "The name's Zangetsu."

xxx

He leaned against the doorway, watching the shopkeeper examine Ichigo. Shinji sighed, closing his eyes and tried not to let the anxiety get to him. The whole room was tense.

"You said you found him like this?" his eyes snapped open, and he nodded, Urahara muttering something about impatient kids nowadays. "How hard were you pushing him in training?"

"We weren't. Kid managed to hold his cool for about two days and then I find him on the ground, bleeding out. No idea what possessed him to try and rip the mask off," he grumbled. "Had to have been painful. He had already passed out when I found him."

The shopkeeper nodded, pulling the arrancar's hakama open to inspect the scar-like wound on his chest. "But he was doing well, then." he caught Shinji's nod, and sat down slowly next to the boy's head, pushing the orange bangs out of the way.

"His eyes were normal, brown. The markings had faded. His hole closed. I thought he was doing very well, it really must have been a strain on his soul to be hollow for so long, considering his heritage." Shinji sat across from him, hands folded into his lap.

Kisuke sighed and resisted the urge to flick out his fan, instead settling for pulling the hat down further over his eyes. "Yes, well. All we can do now is wait, and hope that he can subdue his inner self. When he wakes...when he wakes I suspect he'll need food, and for hollows that means..."

"Souls." Shinji grimaced. "Where am I gonna get-"

"Hueco Mundo."

He stared at the man, eyes wide. " _Hueco Mundo_? Are you _insane_?" he hissed, before slapping a hand to his forehead. "No. Don't answer that. I already know you are." Kisuke smirked, shrugging his shoulders.

"I can get you in. He," he flicked a hand toward Ichigo, "can get you out when he's well. In the meantime it'll be up to you to keep him safe."

Shinji grumbled and pulled out his phone. "Fine. But I'm not going alone."

Urahara nodded, eyes bright. "I never expected you to."

xxx

Gin stiffened beside the throne, and Aizen turned his head lazily to look at him. "What is it, Gin?"

"Nothing of importance, Aizen-sama."

"If it is about the intruders, Gin, I already know. Please let the Espada know they are not to go seeking them out, rather, let them come to us."

The silver-haired man nodded before making a swift exit.

Convenient that Grimmjow had been healed in time for the invasion, no?

And he just knew that the rambunctious Sexta would ignore the order to stay put.

So really, what was the point anyway?

XXX

Short because I had a halloween party and I'm tired. Please before any of you say anything spoiler-wise, just know I am currently reading the manga and have finished the anime up to the end of the arrancar/Aizen arc. So please please please bear with me if some stuff (other than the obvious) isn't quite canon. I'm doing my best. More tomorrow!


	28. Chapter 28

I just wanted to say sorry for not getting this posted yesterday. I was hosting a party-thing, put a lot of work into it, and when only 3 people showed up I got pissed at my 'friends'. But I love those that came, and I really appreciate them.

But... I lost inspiration to do anything the rest of the evening. Seriously. I couldn't keep concentration on anything for too long. I couldn't focus on writing, drawing, or even watching anime. I jumped around on YouTube for a while, and sat staring off into space.

Yeah, so...today will be a double-posting...if I can write the second chapter without falling asleep. Thanks for all the favs/follows/reviews, you guys are the best!

XXX

"No." Shinji frowned, holding the phone up by his ear. That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. "No, no way baldy, you're going to get me killed."

"Hiyori, _please_ , this is important," he pleaded, glancing down at Ichigo's still form. "The kid's gonna be starving when he wakes up and since he's technically still a Hollow we can't just let him start devouring the souls of the town." The blond bit his lip and glanced over at Urahara, who shrugged. _Great. No help there._

"I don't care. I'm not throwing myself into Hueco Mundo with an invalid and a fool. Not for some arrancar that I hardly know." her tone had raised slightly, Shinji could tell she was getting frustrated. He had to settle this quickly.

"Listen," he closed his eyes and leaned his back against the wall. "You know you're the only one I can trust to help me with this." Drawing a deep breath in, "Hiyori, I trust you with my life. You're my comrade, my second, my best friend."

"..." the silence rang in his ears and for a moment he thought she'd hung up on him. Until, "Fine. I'll be right over."

He grinned, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you-"

"I want a raise for this."

He slapped a hand to his forehead as the line went silent.

xxx

The little girl had looked terrified. Rukia couldn't really blame her, what with the three Hollows chasing after her. So naturally she had stepped in, grabbing the child in her arms and dashing away as Renji, Chad, and Ishida took on the others.

She only stopped when she realized the girl was screaming and hitting her with her fists, and that's when she finally looked down. _Oh. That made more sense, actually._

The girl was wearing a cracked mask.

"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! EVIL SOUL REAPER! HELP! DONDOCHAKA! PESCHE! HELP!"

She hastily set the little arrancar down on the sand, blinking confusedly. "But-but I thought you were in danger..." she murmured, turning her head to look back at her friends.

The girl followed her gaze and inhaled sharply. "No! No! My family! No don't-don't kill them please, evil soul reaper!" Rukia paled as the girl began crying, and crouched down to her eye-level.

"Well, now, you see we just-Ooof!" she fell over backwards as the girl shoved at her and took off running in the direction of her 'family'.

She sat up slowly, rubbing at her forehead, still thouroughly confused.

What other weirdness would Hueco Mundo hold?

xxx

He watched her, silently. She had been more subdued since her demonstration in front of Aizen. She hadn't eaten the food he'd brought for her, she hadn't answered any of his questions more than a 'yes' or 'no', she hadn't moved from her place by the window. And he hadn't moved from the table in her room, where he usually sat when he checked in on her.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes slightly, just about to give up on her for today, when the door behind him opened. He turned, face blank, only to see the ever-smirking Ichimaru come through the door. "Ichimaru-san. How can I help you?"

"Ulquiorra-san, as distant as ever," he turned slightly to face the girl. "And Orihime-chan." She didn't move. "Ah, I was supposed to warn you: there are intruders in Hueco Mundo. It would seem they are determined to 'rescue' Orihime-chan."

Ulquiorra's gaze darted to the girl, who had stiffened. "I see. Aizen-sama has no need to worry about them. I will protect his property."

The former shinigami nodded slightly. "Of course. Aizen-sama has requested the Espada remain here, and let the intruders come to you." The Cuatro nodded, and Gin smiled. "Well, I'll be off, then." His emerald eyes followed him out, before turning to stare at the girl.

"Your friends will not succeed." he thought he saw a tear slide from her eye. "Do not get your hopes up," he muttered, stepping up behind her back. He reached out a hand and curled his fingers in the ends of her orange hair, "After all, you belong to us, now." The girl choked back a sob and he let go, exiting the room.

He would never let the intruders take away Aizen-sama's pet.

He would kill them himself, if it came to that.

And then he would somehow find a way to cease the girl's tears.

xxx

Ichigo blinked, staring up at the white figure. "Zangetsu? But that-that's the name of my zanpakuto-"

"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner," the other cackled, leering down at him. "That's my name, alright."

"So...you're my zanpakuto's...spirit?" he raised an eyebrow, and the dark figure off to his right sighed.

"Yes, he is. But he is also your Hollow powers." the dark man sat down, resting his head on one hand. "That makes him doubly dangerous."

"Oh, don't listen to him, he's just jealous," Zangetsu chuckled, yellow eyes glinting. "He wishes he had more of an influence here but, unfortunately, it's not quite his turn yet."

The Espada stared up at him, more confused than ever. "Ok...so you're Zangetsu. So who's he?"

"Like I said, it's not his turn yet. Look King, we can't just drop all this new information on ya at once, your head would explode." Ichigo rolled his eyes, and sighed.

"Fine. So if you're my zanpakuto and my Hollow powers, and he's...whatever he is, then what does that make me?"

Zangetsu blinked down at him, a bored expression crossing his face. "Well that's kinda obvious, ain't it? 'You' meaning your form here, not the entireity of 'Ichigo' 'cause that'd be all of us combined, but 'you'-'you' are the shinigami part of your soul. The most human of all of us, I guess." The arrancar frowned.

"I don't get it."


	29. Chapter 29

Kisuke stood once again in the basement, across from Yoruichi, looking down at the two Visoreds holding the still unconscious arrancar between them. The two were arguing about Hiyori's 'raise' and the best strategy for staying alive in Hueco Mundo until Ichigo woke up.

Yoruichi chuckled softly, and he looked over at her, one brow raised. She smiled, flashing her white teeth, "They're just...so cute together."

Urahara gave a small smile. "Don't let either of them hear you say that. They haven't figured it out for themselves yet." Turning his attention back to the bickering couple, he called down to them. "Hey! You two ready to go yet? I do have other things to be doing-"

"Shut it, baldy! This is your fault, for suggesting this insane idea in the first place!" Hiyori yelled up at him, and Kisuke grinned. She hadn't changed one bit.

Finally, it seemed, they were ready to go, and Shinji gave them a thumbs-up.

He faced Yoruichi and sharpened his focus on opening the garganta.

Then they were gone, and he sat down on the platform with a sigh.

"Are you getting too old for this, Kisuke?" Yoruichi smirked at him, flipping her hair over one shoulder.

"Not as old as you, my dear."

A hard punch to the face reminded him why he was never supposed to tease a woman about her age.

Especially not when that woman had mastered the art of flash step and packed a punch harder than a flying ton of bricks.

xxx

Renji stared helplessly as the enemy Hollows broke down crying in front of them. "NEL-SAMA! THEY'VE STOLEN NEL-SAMA!" he scratched at the back of his head, lowering Zabimaru and glanced over at Ishida and Chad, who seemed just as surprised as he was.

"I don't know who this Nel person is," he took a step forward, "but come on, I can't take you seriously if-"

"NO! PLEASE DON'T KILL US, EVIL SHINIGAMI!" he froze, eyes wide as the Hollows scrambled backwards from him.

Ishida sighed and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Look, Hollows." all three turned to him, still sniffling. "We aren't going to kill you. You're not worth our time. We're just trying to get directions to Las Noches. I promise we didn't steal your Nel-sama."

The purple-clothed Hollow took a step closer to him. "Re-really? You'll help us find Nel-sama then?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever-" the Quincy murmured before being tackled by the Hollows.

"Oh thank you so much, evil boy! Thank you so much!"

Renji blinked, glancing over at Chad, who just shrugged. This was going to be a long day. He started towards the dog-pile, intent on helping Ishida out of it when _something_ rammed into the back of his legs. He fell forward, looking up at a little girl leaping over him to the Hollows.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM, YOU EVIL SHINIGAMI!"

The red-haired man frowned.

A _very_ long day indeed.

xxx

Toshiro stiffened in front of the head captain, not quite sure he had heard right. They were sending four captains into Hueco Mundo. Four. Captains. That was four out of the remaining ten. With the inevitable war upon them, was it really a good idea to send four captains away?

But, he supposed, it was for a good cause. Abarai and Kuchiki had already gone with the two humans Ishida and Chad, and he knew that they didn't stand a chance of getting out alive unless they got backup. And he didn't want them to die, he actually liked them pretty well.

It was just that Aizen's plans had finally become clear to them, and Karakura town was to be the battlefront. If they didn't protect the town, at least a hundred thousand people would lose their lives and their souls, and Aizen would have the key to the Soul King. And then, presumably, more people would die once Aizen took him out.

If there was ever a more appropriate time for the saying, " caught between a rock and hard place," he didn't want to know.

For now though, he had to focus on training. His bankai wasn't ready to stand against Aizen, and he was sure that Matsumoto was even less prepared.

They needed to be ready for battle.

xxx

He hadn't meant to get involved. Not really. But he just couldn't stand it. The girl was practically helpless, and though he was all for natural selection, survival of the fittest and all that, he couldn't let them kill her.

He reasoned with himself that it was just because he owed her, and that Aizen needed her alive.

So when Grimmjow busted the wall apart to find the two female fracciones standing over the human's still body, he didn't really know what he would do.

It only became clear when the orange-haired girl was screaming at him to stop, and he blinked, looking down at his hands. They were covered in blood, and in one he was grasping a...was that a leg? The stench of burnt flesh made him curl his lip and he turned to see a blackened corpse still smoking. _Huh_. He looked back at the leg, and then down at the paralyzed fraccion who was bleeding severely. He narrowed his eyes and threw the leg away, crouching over the other.

"Aizen needs her alive. You can't kill her, Loly. Do you get that?" the girl whimpered, and Grimmjow snarled, grabbing her by the head and tossing her against the wall. "Keh." His cerulean eyes slid to the human girl's who shrank away from him in fear. "You don't have to thank me, or anything." She bit her lip and nodded, seeming to be holding back tears. The Sexta sighed, wiping his hands on his pants and reaching a hand out to her. "Come on, Ulquiorra might throw a fit but I sure as hell ain't leaving you here in this mess."

She hesitated before grabbing his hand and pulling her self up. "Yes, Grimmjow-san," she murmured, keeping her eyes down.

He didn't notice the emerald eyes glaring at him from across the hall.

xxx

"Well, I really don't feel like explaining it again, ok?" the white man muttered. "You- you explain it," he called over to the other figure, and Ichigo turned his head.

"Ichigo, you're the soul reaper part of the combined soul. Zangetsu there is your Hollow and zanpakuto. You're technically in charge, as you've begun to master your soul reaper powers in favor over your Hollow form. Make more sense now?"

The Quinto nodded and sucked in a deep breath, sitting up and pulling his knees close to him. Zangetsu had finally goten off of him, apparently sure now that Ichigo wasn't going to argue or run off. They eyed each other warily, and Ichigo tensed, suddenly sure that this was going to turn into a fight.

"Oh? So you realized it then, King?" the white figure grinned. "When you started pushing me aside, it really hurt my feelings, ya know? I liked you better when all you did was kill in your quest for power." Ichigo barely had time to scramble to his feet before a sword was thrown in his direction. "So get ready, King. It's time I challenged your right to rule."

He should have been expecting this, given every other stupid thing that seemed to happen to him for no reason.

He just wished that he had had more time to prepare.

XXX

Alright! With this, we're caught up again to the days. Only two more chapters for the daily posting- and then it will either be weekly or every other week, seeing as how I really need to write and post for Hollow. Most likely I'll alternate the two.


	30. Chapter 30

They walked through the halls in silence, and he couldn't help but keep throwing glances her way. She'd stayed silent since he pulled her from Ulquiorra's rooms, and he feared it was his fault. After all, he'd just brutally murdered at least one of the fracciones, and he was sure that the girl probably wasn't used to that.

But what could he do? He was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Sexta and Destruction. There would be no changing that, it was in his nature.

At his own 'palace' as Aizen called them, he opened a suite of rooms for the human girl to stay in temporarily. After seeing her settle by the window, he walked out, shutting and locking the door behind him. He turned to go when he felt a chill run down his spine.

No one gave him that feeling but the Cuatro. _No one_. Cerulean eyes met emerald. He curled his lip into a sneer, and growled lowly. "Where were you, huh? That girl under your protection was almost killed, and you did nothing about it."

The other narrowed his eyes. "She was not yours to take, Grimmjow."

"And what? She was yours to sit by and watch and do nothing? You wanted me to leave her in that room, with those two dead and dying? Sheesh, you're colder than I thought, Ulquiorra." He clenched his hands into fists, bringing them up slowly. "The poor kid's already been through enough, don't ya think?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You kidnap her, bring her here with all of us _monsters_ , force her into using her powers, lock her in a room with nothing to do, and then you stand by and watch as those fracciones beat her up? _Really?!_ If you think that's not enough to mess someone up then you're more screwed up than I had realized." He had taken a few steps forward til he was nearly nose-to-nose with the other.

"Back down, Grimmjow." the monotonous tone was really starting to grate on his nerves, and he couldn't stand the other's blank expression. _Surely he had to care about something, right?_ He jabbed a finger at the Cuatro's chest.

"No. The girl's staying here until you can figure yourself out."

An ice-cold hand gripped around his wrist, and his eyes widened.

"You're going to regret that."

xxx

He landed lightly on the sand, Hiyori touching down beside him. Shinji was holding the still form of Ichigo in his arms, and he glanced around, looking for somewhere they might be able to set up camp until the boy was ready to move. Nothing. There was really nowhere protected out here in this open desert.

The Visored set the boy gently on the ground, looking down at him. Back in the living world, Urahara had managed to clean up the blood, but that hadn't helped Ichigo's looks. The skin where the mask had been was red and torn, and though the shopkeeper had bound the area in white gauze it seemed that blood was bound to seep through. Even now the bandages were stained dark, and Shinji worried that they hadn't brought enough spares.

Hiyori crossed her arms and he darted a glance in her direction, seeing her shift her weight from one foot to the other restlessly. She caught his eyes and frowned, "I don't like this. This," she waved a hand, " being caught out here in the open, we're vulnerable." She made a thumb and jerked it towards Ichigo, "He's vulnerable too."

"Well what do you propose we do, then?" he scratched at the back of his neck, scanning the horizon for any sign of shelter. "There's nothing out here."

"Yeah, I can see _that_." She huffed, rolling her eyes. "Remember what Urahara said? He said to look under. I think that he might've meant underneath-"

"The sands. Underneath the sand." he grinned at her. "Hiyori, you're a genius."

"You're just figuring that out now, baldy?" She chuckled, before leaping away from them and high into the air. Then she made to kick the ground, and Shinji hurriedly picked up Ichigo and jumped as the sand fell away beneath them.

They landed on a tree branch in the 'underworld'. In the distance he could hear Hollows and even Menos as they hunted. Yes, this might be the perfect place for Ichigo to eat, but could they survive til he woke up?

He sincerely hoped so.

xxx

"Urahara?" when he'd answered the door, it was certainly not the shopkeeper that he'd expected to find on his doorstep. Isshin gave a nervous smile before opening the door wider, and ushering the man in. "This must be important for you to pay a visit to my home, Kisuke."

The blond man sighed, flicking out his fan and tossing it between his hands. "You know I wouldn't drop by without good reason."

"I know." his eyes darted away, looking at the stairs. "We just have to keep it down. Karin and Yuzu have school in the morning-"

"It's about Ichigo."

"-and I don't want to wake them," he finished before the words registered. _Ichigo?_ "My son?" he gasped, sitting hurriedly in an armchair. "You saw my son? How was he? Is he-"

"He's still alive. Though I don't know how his time with his inner demons will turn out." At Isshin's puzzled look, he took a deep breath in. "I-I asked the Visoreds to take an interest in him. I thought they could help him supress the Hollow and bring out more of the shinigami."

"And?" he drew a deep breath in, not daring to hope for too much. "Did...did it work?"

"As far as he got, yes, it was working. His markings had faded, his eyes were brown. Kinda like Masaki's." he pulled his hat down over his eyes. "His Hollow hole had even closed up when he went into a prolonged state of calm. It's just-" Isshin gripped the arms of his chair, heart pounding. "He seemed to inherit your stubborness of thinking he knew what was best, and he proceeded to rip his mask off before he was ready."

The words sunk in slowly, and he closed his eyes, realizing what that probably had to do with Kisuke's mention of 'inner demons'. "I see." he folded his hands in his lap, before turning back to Urahara. "Well, thank you for letting me know. And please...do keep watching him." He stood, ready to show the other out, but Urahara didn't move.

"Actually, there's something else I need to ask you." Isshin frowned, sitting back down, not liking the ominous tone. "Are you prepared to defend your town?" the shopkeeper locked eyes with him, and he nodded slowly. "Good. 'Cause we're going to need you to defeat Aizen."

XXX

What do you think? We're almost through posting every day. Will you guys miss me?


	31. Chapter 31

The clash of steel on steel rang throughout the strange world. Ichigo was breathing heavily, bleeding in a number of places. His counterpart, on the other hand, was seemingly just fine. In fact, he was laughing. _Why did he have to be laughing?_ He launched himself forward to swing at the other man, who laughed and swung up his own sword in defense.

"What's the matter, King? Not strong enough without my help?" he cackled, shoving Ichigo backwards. "Then why don't ya just let me take over, huh?" Ichigo cursed and barely got the sword up in time to block a blow to his face. "Admit defeat already, Ichigo."

He grit his teeth and pushed back, steel grinding as he did so. "Never." He swung his sword at the man's unprotected left side, and Zangetsu's eyes widened as the blade bit into his flesh. Ichigo grinned, yakning the sword away and swinging again, aiming for the legs this time, but the zanpakuto leapt away.

"Oh come _on_ , King. Can't ya see we need to work together? You'll never be able to rule Hueco Mundo as a _shinigami_." Zangetsu spat, pressing one hand to his wound. Ichigo blinked. _Rule...Hueco Mundo? Maybe...maybe he didn't want that anymore_. His eyes widened. _What did he want, then?_ Ichigo grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes, pulling the energy from deep inside himself.

"Getsuga Tensho!" he shouted, swinging his blade down towards the other, the black flash of reiatsu bearing down hard and fast. Zangetsu's eyes widened and he took a defensive stance, bracing himself. He used his sonido to get around behind the zanpakuto spirit, firing off another blast in his direction.

The shrill screams filled his ears and an unbearable heat burned inside his body.

xxx

Rukia sighed, watching as Renji and Ishida bickered with the two Hollows. They had come to an agreement, once Nel had decided that they weren't going to kill them after all. Actually, the little arrancar was very helpful, directing the way that the worm was going. Chad was...silent. As always.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in. She just hoped that they were going to make it in time to save Orihime. There was no concept of day and night here, nothing changed. She didn't know how long they had been in Hueco Mundo, more than a few days, she was sure.

Everything was fine until the sand erupted in front of them, a Hollow bigger than any she'd ever seen rising up from the ground. Renji and Ishida sprang into action, each drawing their respective weapons, and she slid from the back of the worm, drawing her own zanpakuto.

None of the attacks were working. Not Renji's bankai, not Ishida's strongest blasts of reishi, not Chad's destructive power. Rukia breathed in, and breathed out, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." The ribbons flowed around her and she raised her head to face the sand Hollow. Surely her ice would have a greater effect on the sand, if she froze it and broke it off?

It was worth trying.

xxx

He let off a cero, aiming for the horned head, frustrated that he had let Ulquiorra push him this far. They had already destroyed the outermost wall of his palace, fortunately not the room where he had led Orihime.

The other Espada had fired first, when he had grabbed Grimmjow's wrist. The Sexta had been lucky to dodge that blast, or else he probably wouldn't still be standing. He hadn't wanted to recognize the gap between his and Ulqiuorra's powers. _Was Ichigo that much stronger than him as well?_

Grimmjow bit his lip, forced into drawing his zanpakuto. Could he manage to get out of this without releasing his resurrecion form?

A stong hit to his chest said no.

He fell from the sky, blood streaming behind him, and he vaguely recalled this sensation from before.

 _Oh yeah._

He was losing.

xxx

It had been almost a week since they entered the underworld forest of Hueco Mundo. A few days in and the Visoreds had learned quickly that if they kept quiet, then they were less likely to be attacked. If they were were attacked, then they had best kill the Hollow quickly lest they attract more attention.

Hiyori had seen a shadow through the trees, something that was distinctly different from all the other Hollows here. She prayed that it wasn't an arrancar, she didn't know if they would be able to fend one of them off without drawing attention by the Menos.

She was sitting by Ichigo's side, Shinji standing guard at the entrance to the little cave they had discovered. And then there was someone else there. Shinji let out a yell in suprise, reaching for his zanpakuto but the figure stilled him.

"I am not an enemy." The masks all over the man's body were a little ominous, but he had spoken clearly, and he didn't feel like a Hollow. Then he removed the mask.

Hiyori's eyes widened and she stood protectively over Ichigo. "Then who-"

"My name is Kano Ashido. I was a Soul Reaper."

Well.

That didn't really make anything better.

Shinji glared at the man. "What do you want then, shinigami?"

The other looked at him strangely. "You are not soul reapers yourselves, then?"

"No, baldy. We aren't." Hiyori growled, stepping forward to push her hands against his chest. "Now, if you'd be so kind, get out. We're busy surviving-"

"Is your friend supposed to be doing that?"

"Doing what-oh crap." Shinji muttered, rushing to Ichigo's side. The boy was trembling, shaking all over, dark reiatsu swirling around him. "This is not good. Hiyori, did Urahara say anything about this?"

She shook her head, mouth opened slightly in shock. She would say that this transformation reminded her of her own hollowification, but it seemed so much more _intense_.

Ichigo's skin turned pale as snow, red stripes streaking in strange patterns all over it. A white bone-like horn grew from the left side of his face, and his spiritual pressure felt like it had quadrupled. She noticed the shinigami drop to one knee, she could barely stand herself. Shinji was grabbing the kid's shoulders, shaking him and yelling at him to snap out of it.

Then everything went deadly silent, the reaitsu concentrating in Ichigo's body, and Shinji scrambled away as the Espada sat up and opened his eyes. The right one brown...the left one, black with a yellow iris. He looked more demonic than he ever had before.

Ichigo blinked, before cracking his neck and letting out a deep sigh.

"How long was I out? I'm starved."


	32. Chapter 32

"As far as we can figure, about a week." _A week?_ No wonder he was starving. Ichigo got to his feet slowly, Shinji and the others backing away from him in a hurry. Frowning, he looked down at himself, suddenly aware something wasn't right. He jerked back slightly as he took in the paleness of his skin. He reached a hand up to touch lightly on the horn sticking out from the left side of his head and blinked.

"Wha-?" he took a step forward, wincing slightly as his body threatened to give out from exhaustion. He was aware that it was pure spiritual energy keeping him upright, but he couldn't hold out like this for long. Growling lowly, he narrowed his eyes and used sonido to speed past the Visored, ignoring Shinji's stammered "Wait". He had known he was in Hueco Mundo from the second he woke up, and he fully intended to make use of his location. The Hollows wouldn't even be aware they were being eaten til they were gone.

He returned to the cave after his successful hunt. He had taken down at least five Menos and a few adjuchas who had gotten in his way. He wasn't full, but he was sated for now. It would have to do. At least until he found out what the Visoreds were doing here. And about his new form. Ichigo stepped back into the cave warily, eyes darting to the figure he hadn't recognized. It smelled like a shinigami, and while that would usually make his lip curl, for some reason it didn't bother him. Maybe it was because he was mastering that half of himself. Although right now, he definetly didn't feel like he was more human. He felt like he was bursting with potential and energy, ready to take on the world.

Hiyori turned to face him when he entered, her eyes flashing. "Sit." He blinked, opening his mouth to protest, but then she was above him, kicking him to the ground roughly. "I said 'sit'. Not argue." He sat. Shinji sat in front of him, Hiyori to his left, and he sensed the soul reaper behind him, most likely serving as a lookout.

Shinji sighed, scratching at the back of his head. "Welcome back to consciousness, Ichigo. You feeling better after your hunt?" The arrancar nodded slowly, eyes wary. Shinji was acting stranger than usual. "Do...do you remember what you did? What landed you in a comatose state for this past week?"

His mismatched eyes lowered to the ground. "I remember...pain." He had blacked out at some point, and then he thought he had woken up...but it was his inner world he had woken to. The he sucked in a harsh breath. "My mask."

The blond man nodded, eyes dark. "You ripped it off." Ichigo flinched, shutting his eyes tight as the memory came back to him. His curiousity had gotten the better of him, as it always did. "So Ichigo, what did you learn?"

He bit his lip, glancing up at Hiyori and Shinji. "Not to...not to-"

"You learned to take things more slowly. And you also learned something about yourself, am I right?" Shinji leaned forward.

"..." the Quinto nodded once, before biting his lip. "I-I did learn a few things. But nothing I learned would have corresponded to this new form. What-what do you think-"

"You have a Resurrecion form, right?" he turned to Hiyori, surprised she knew that much about arrancars. He nodded, and she grinned. "So this must be a new stage in the Resurrecion form process. Must have something to do with your battle with your zanpakuto."

He narrowed his eyes. "How did you- I didn't say-"

"You still don't know everything there is to know about shinigami, Ichigo." he found Shinji's brown eyes, and blinked. "For example, we haven't discussed the possibilty of a bankai."

He was just about to ask what that meant when the body of a girl crashed through the ceiling.

xxx

He lay on the sand, gasping for every breath. He was bleeding everywhere. Everything hurt. He had released his Resurrecion form and while that had helped for a little while, it didn't change the fact that Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was now lying on the sand, practically helpless.

The Sexta growled lowly in his throat, lifting his head slightly to see that Ulquiorra was now standing over him, eyeing him with his usual cold expression. _Hell, he wanted to smack that look off of the Cuatro's face. And he would, too, if only he could get up._ A flicker of orange at the edge of his vision made his eyes dart to the side, and he blinked in confusion.

The human girl was running to his side, she was screaming something. _Like before_. He turned back to Ulquiorra, suddenly noticing that the other Espada was forming a cero aimed at his head. He let out a choked laugh, head falling back against the sand with a soft thud. He was ready _. He had asked for this, hadn't he?_ Too bad he hadn't had the chance to take down Aizen before he died. He pitied the human girl, and hoped Ulquiorra wouldn't be too hard on her once he was finished with him. The Sexta closed his eyes, a bright light engulfing him.

Grimmjow knew no more.

xxx

Renji stared at the hole. Yes, the sand Hollow was gone. Rukia's ice had made quick work of it. But when it left...when it left it had created a kind of sinkhole, and Rukia...Rukia was gone with it.

He had tried to go in after her, but the Hollows had pulled him back from the edge, suddenly protective of him. They claimed no one could have survived that fall, and even if they did...that the Hollows who lived there would make short work of his friend. But Rukia was _more_ than his friend. It didn't seem right to leave her. But then the arrancar girl was tugging him onto the back of the worm, and they were moving away from the site.

Ishida and Chad watched him from a distance, and he sighed, eyes dark. "Rukia...she'll be fine. Let's keep our focus on Orihime, yes?" the two teens nodded, and the shinigami curled his fingers against the slick skin of the hollow-worm.

He had to keep beleiving that. She was, after all, part of the Gotei 13. The Hollows had no idea just how capable she was. He had to hold onto that hope.

Orihime needed them, after all.

xxx

She didn't really know what had happened. Suddenly she was falling through the sand, and then through what looked to be a forest, then crashing hard into a rock-like structure, only to have it give way and crumble underneath her. Then, mercifully, she stopped falling. No, instead she was splayed out on the rock, struggling for breath, and gazing dazedly up at the hole she had made.

And then she noticed the reaistu surging around her. Her eyes widened and she struggled to sit up, but a hand slowly pushed her shoulder back down. "Relax, shinigami," she heard a voice mumur, and she wearily closed her eyes, praying that she hadn't landed in the middle of a Hollow's lair.

Rukia opened her eyes sometime later, sensing the spiritual pressures around her. She kept still, struggling to identify the beings. One was certainly shinigami, but it was not anyone she recognized. Two were very distinctly shinigami in nature, but had a dark twist to them she wasn't expecting. The other...the other took her breath away. It was much more powerful than anything she had ever felt before, and she sensed that whoever it was was holding back. It felt Hollow-like, but at the same time reverberated with the feeling of a soul reaper. It was extremely unusual.

She sat up slowly, wanting to put faces to these spiritual pressures, and took in the figures before her. They were seated around a small fire, a hulking masked man-the shinigami. A blond man and a short blond woman-the two she had no names for. And a pale man with one sharp horn, orange hair standing out in sharp contrast to his skin. Even sharper though, were the blood-red stripes streaking across the left side of his face and forming patterns further down his body. There was no mistaking it: this was the most powerful person in the room. Then he turned to face her, and she sucked in a gasp.

She recognized him.

There was no mistaking this face. She would always remember Kaien, and she would never forget the boy from all those years ago-the boy that had his face. The Hollow boy who had started it all.

And, it seemed, he recognized her as well.

For he promptly collapsed.

XXX

Wow! So sorry about the long hiatus for this story! I was working on Hollow for a while... Anyway, I'll ask you guys the same thing I asked them. What day would you want me to update this story? Hollow now gets updates on Mondays when I feel like it, but there is a set day for updating. Would you guys want a set day too? Maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday? Also! Thinking of writing a Durarara! crossover with Working! . Would anyone be interested in reading it? Please let me know either in the reviews or message me!

So here's a few story notes, just to keep track of things: Ichigo's been out for about a week when he wakes up. This means Orihime has been in Hueco Mundo for about 18 days, and the soul reaper gang for around 10 days. Shinji and Hiyori have been there for 6 days. 2 days while Ichigo was out he was in the human world, so 6 days in Hueco Mundo.

One more thing about this story, and Bleach in general: I gave up watching the anime after they defeated Aizen. I just don't do filler very well. Still trying to read the manga, but it's slow-going with everything else I have to do. So if I take some extremely un-canon approaches to things, you know why. And please don't get all over my case for it-it's fanfiction.

As always, I want to thank everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. I check out everyone who follows/faves, and I try to respond to every review that I can! Please keep reviewing, they mean the world to me! See you next time!


	33. Chapter 33

"Grimmjow-san." _Someone was calling his name_. "Grimmjow-san." _He didn't know who was trying to get his attention. All he knew was that he wasn't hurting. Wait..._

Cerulean eyes blinked open and the Sexta stared up at the human girl who was leaning over him. "Ori-hime?" he croaked, sitting up slowly. A hand on his chest eased him back down to the sand. "Where's Ulqiuorra?"

She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder. "He-he left. I shielded you and he got really angry and was about to kill us both but something caught his attention somewhere else. I don't know where he went or when he'll be back, but I took the time to heal you so..."

 _Ah. So that's why he didn't hurt anymore. The girl must have used her strange powers to protect him, as she'd said. Strange that Ulquiorra didn't finish the job, though. Even stranger that he'd run away from a human. Well, Grimmjow always did know that he was a coward._

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, thoughts swimming through his head at a lazy pace. He wasn't really worried about Ulquiorra coming back, no, he was just embarrassed he had to be saved by a human girl. Oh well.

At the edge of his senses, he could feel something headed towards their location. It didn't feel like Espada, no. It felt like...

Shinigami.

xxx

Ishida narrowed his eyes as he made out the dome-like structure in front of them. It seemed they had finally reached Las Noches or whatever it was called, but now they had to figure out how to get inside. Some kind of unseen barrier was currently halting their progress.

Renji was hacking away at the unseen force-field with Zabimaru when suddenly he fell face-first onto the sand. Surprised, Ishida walked forward, past Renji and into what seemed to be the normal daytime sky. It had to be some kind of illusion. He grit his teeth and turned to look at the Hollows behind him. "Well, come on. We haven't got all day."

Renji picked himself up off the sand and brushed himself off. "Maybe we should wait for Rukia. I'm worried that-"

"If you want to go find your girlfriend, then do so." Ishida snapped. "In the meantime, _I'll_ be saving Orihime."

"She-she's not my..." Renji sputtered, face bright red. "Besides, isn't Orihime _your_ girlfriend?"

Ishida flushed and bit his lip, looking away. "Now's not the time. Let's go." He jumped back onto the Hollow worm, refusing to look at anyone.

Renji rolled his eyes, "You started it, asshole." he muttered, swinging up onto the worm's back, sitting behind the others. He couldn't resist glancing back behind them, scanning the horizon line for any sign of his shinigami companion.

Rukia would be fine. She had to be.

xxx

When the man collapsed, his form changed. Rukia thought it was odd, but what did she know about arrancar? The horn disappeared, his skin became a more normal flesh color, and the red marks faded until there were only two under his right eye. A broken mask covered the left eye and the marks were repeated there. Strangely, there was no Hollow hole, just a ring-shaped scar where she assumed there would have been a hole. She watched as the blond man darted forward to grab the arrancar before he hit the ground.

The short girl stared at her. "So, shinigami. Why're you in Hueco Mundo?" Rukia bit her lip. She didn't like the way that the two...Visoreds, they called themselves... were looking at her. And the masked soul reaper-Kano?- had not said a more than a few words to her. He was simply sitting at the edge of the cave, staring out into the trees.

The male Visored had settled the Hollow down onto the floor rather quickly after he had collapsed, and Rukia had a sinking feeling it was her fault that he was down. After all, she _was_ the one to attack him all those years ago, even if she had only been trying to help. It couldn't have been exactly pleasant to see the face of your assailant again.

"My friend was taken by the Espada." there was no point in hiding the truth from the Visoreds, it wasn't like they were helping Aizen, right? But then again...they had a very powerful arrancar with them right now. "More correct would be to say that she was taken by Aizen." She noticed that the two stiffened, shooting a quick glance at each other before the man nodded slowly.

"Well. Any enemy of Aizen's is not an enemy of mine." He sat down across from her, scratching at the back of his head. "The name's Hirako Shinji. That's Hiyori, my second-in-command. And before you ask, yes, we did use to be shinigami. But we were exiled from Seiretei when we were forced into Hollowification by Aizen."

She blinked, eyes wide. That, that made some sense, actually. "So...Shinji-san, who is-" she pointed at the arrancar, "that, exactly?"

The man sighed and leaned against the cave wall, glancing over at Ichigo's body. "That's Kurosaki Ichigo." She felt a jolt go through her, and somehow she felt like she should know the name. "He's...well. He's a troubled soul." Shinji's eyes darted to her own, and she swallowed uneasily. "It seemed like you knew him, and that he knew you. I'm guessing he went into shock because of this? That or he just didn't get enough to eat the first time..." he muttered under his breath.

"I-yes. Around four or five years ago I was assigned to Karakura town, and the first night I was there an unusually strong Hollow manifested. It almost killed me, but I managed to wound it, sending it to Hueco Mundo. Unfortunately, I attacked from the front and only part of the mask slipped..."

"And so you saw our dear Ichigo." Hiyori grumbled, sitting down on her left side. "Ichigo, obviously, advanced through the Hollow ranks. He's Espada Quinto." Rukia narrowed her eyes, no wonder that he was so over-powering then.

"Yes, but Hiyori-chan, you're leaving out the most important detail." She looked back to Shinji, who was smirking slightly. "Ichigo was born into a rather spiritual family. I believe you're familiar with both the Quincy and the Shiba clan, yes?"

She covered her mouth as she gasped. No wonder he looked like Kaien. Somewhere along the line they were distantly related. But the Quincy too? "And he's Espada."

Shinji nodded. "He's too powerful for his own good. Probably why Aizen was trying to keep such a tight leash on him. However, we were able to convince him there's more to life than Hueco Mundo, and he's been regaining his 'human' side. His shinigami side. We haven't unlocked his Quincy powers yet. Can't have him completely unstable, not when we were so close to-" he cut himself off as Ichigo stirred and sat up.

The boy blinked, and Rukia saw that his eyes were currently brown. He looked at her and frowned. "You. You're the shinigami that tried to kill me. Multiple times." he growled.

"That's not-it was just my job-I was only trying to help you," she sputtered. "If I had only gotten there sooner, I could've saved the woman and sent you to Soul Society as a reclaimed soul." She still felt bad that the woman had died, crushed in the Hollow's hand. If she had to guess, it had been the boy's mother.

Ichigo winced and stared at his hands. "I killed Mom." he muttered, clenching his fists. "I-I had almost forgotten." He shook himself and looked back up at her, eyes sharp. "But even still, you tried to kill me." He held up a hand at her protest. "I was a Hollow the first time, a Menos the second, and even when I became an Espada you haunted me in my nightmares. Why?"

 _Why?_ She didn't know the answer to that. But somehow she knew that she and this boy were inexplicably linked together.

"This is a lovely conversation and all," Hiyori muttered, "but weren't you supposed to be saving your friend, shinigami? And you, Ichi, you're supposed to be getting us out of this hell-hole."

"Friend?" Ichigo stared at her, ignoring Hiyori's growing annoyance and Shinji's bored stare. "What does she mean, saving your friend?"

Rukia sighed and stood up. "Aizen kidnapped one of my friends-rather, he got the Espada to do it. But she's only a human, I can't understand why he would need-"

Ichigo scrambled to his feet, eyes flashing neon yellow, and he growled lowly in his throat. "He really means to do it. He's going to use whatever special power she possesses to do it. And where the hell have I been?! In training, and unconscious. Gah! All this time I could have been planning out how to get rid of him."

Rukia let out a squawk as she was scooped into the arrancar's arms.

"We have to stop him."

Then they were gone, Ichigo's sonido whisking them away.

Hiyori's brow twitched and she turned to Shinji.

"Did our only way out alive just take off?"

"I believe so." the man had gone as pale as a sheet. "And, as much as I don't want to get involved just yet, I'm afraid we have no other choice."

"Damn."

xxx

The bells in his hair sounded muffled in Las Noches. He looked around at the strange structures, scratching at his chest. The fake-blue sky was off-putting. Give him a real, honest-to-goodness outdoor brawl anyday. Much better than fighting Hollows in the middle of their own lair.

He had split off from the others when they arrived. Unohana was only the medic, Kuchiki was a stuck-up prissy bastard, and Kurosutchi was just weird. None of them were on his level. And they were all so boring.

A glimmer of orange and blue off to his right caught his eyes, and he used flash-step to get to the area quickly. What he found was...interesting, but not his kind of interesting.

He was sure that this was the human girl that they were trying to rescue, but the blue-haired man passed out on the sand was most definitely an enemy. "Girl, what're you doing? Shouldn't you be running by now?"

She gasped and turned to face him, eyes wide. "K-Kenpachi-san." her eyes welled up with tears and she darted towards him. Shit... She wrapped her arms around him, holding tight. "Please don't hurt him, he's only tried to help me, Grimmjow-san is not bad, not really."

"Ha! So it's true. Grimmy was saved by a human woman and now by a shinigami." A new voice caused him to pry the girl off, gently, and glare behind him. A tall and lanky man with an eyepatch was leering at him, hoisting a scythe up against his shoulder. "You ready to die, taicho?" he sneered.

Kenpachi Zaraki grinned, reaitsu siwrling all around him. "Keh. You think you can kill me, Hollow?"

"Yeah, I do." They darted forward and clashed in the middle.

He loved nothing more than a good fight.

xxx

Eep I said I would try to update more regularly but life has been crazy! Sorry about that! Thank you for reading, favoriting, following, and most especially reviewing! Hey, if you leave me reviews I'll get the next chapter done sooner and maybe I'll post some fanart on my deviantart! Can I try for 5? So 27+5=32. 32 reviews and you'll get another chapter and fanart!


	34. Chapter 34

He bowed before the throne, eyes focused on the floor. Aizen had summoned him back so quickly, he was unable to deal with Grimmjow and in his haste he had forgotten to grab the girl. She shouldn't be out there, unprotected, especially when there were intruders in Las Noches. But right now...

"Ulquiorra." he looked up to find Aizen's cold brown eyes locked onto him. "There are Soul Reaper captains in Las Noches. They're here for the girl, of course, but while they're around I want you to take care of them. Understood?"

"Of course, Aizen-sama. Should I retrieve the girl and bring her back to you, first?" he stood, emerald eyes emotionless.

"No." the former shinigami chuckled. "While her powers are useful, I don't really need her at the moment. She was more of a distraction than anything. Oh, and to heal Grimmjow's arm, I guess."

The Cuatro nodded, and disappeared from the throne room.

Aizen turned to look at Gin and Tousen. "It's almost time to head to Karakura town. Now that the Court Guards are down to 6 active captains, we'll have a much easier time. Especially with our three highest Espada fighting with us." Tousen nodded, and Gin grinned. "I'll make the final preparations."

xxx

"Where are we going?!" she shrieked at the orange-haired arrancar, who was currently leaping upwards from tree branch to tree branch towards the surface.

"To Las Noches, of course." he smirked down at her. "That's where your friend is being kept, I'm sure."

Rukia frowned and was just about to rebuke him further when they burst through the 'roof' of the forest. Sand fell all over them both and she coughed.

"Sorry about that. Normally I would take my time but Aizen-sama is about to do something very dangerous." Ichigo huffed, using his sonido to speed across the desert landscape of Hueco Mundo.

"You said something about that a minute ago. Just what exactly is Aizen planning? And why did he need Orihime?" she choked, spitting out a few more mouthfuls of sand.

"..." he glanced down at her, yellow eyes dark with emotion. "Aizen wants to destroy Soul Society and declare himself the ruler of both the living and the spiritual worlds." She gasped and clung tighter to him as he used a burst of speed to get them both past the barrier surrounding Las Noches. "He's going to use the Hogyoku, how it works exactly I don't know. As for your friend, we were supposed to scope out a few inhabitants of Karakura a few weeks ago, but I never made it back. Instead I was trained by the Visoreds... but I remember something that Aizen said to Ulquiorra about the girl, in particular. I thought it was odd, for sure. 'She will be useful in the future. Her powers are noteworthy, but it is more her person that I require at the moment.' I still don't know what he meant by all that." he sighed. "And I didn't have a chance to find out either, at least, not until now." Rukia didn't know what to make of it either. _Just how was Aizen going to destroy Seireitei by using the Hogyoku and Orihime?_

Suddenly they came to a complete stop, and Rukia lurched in the arrancar's arms. "What do you think you're-" she stopped, seeing a lone figure standing directly in front of them. She scrambled out of Ichigo's arms to stand on her own, eyes wide.

"Shinigami." Ichigo spoke lowly, and Rukia looked at him, figuring that he meant the other and not her. "What are you doing in Las Noches?"

The man ignored Ichigo's question, instead making eye-contact with her. "Rukia. Come here." she swallowed, not looking at him. She was in trouble, she knew it, because she and Renji had come with Chad and Ishida before being given any orders. In fact, they had disobeyed orders: they weren't supposed to leave Soul Society at all, especially her, because she was still under suspension.

Ichigo glanced at her, brows narrowed. "Did you know about this? Just how many of you are there?" he hissed. "You claim you're here to rescue your friend, but are you really? Are you here to attack Hueco Mundo?"

She shook her head, tears beginning to form. "No it's not like that, it's not." she glanced between the two of them and took one step forward, "Nii-sama, please-" Steel rang on steel as she witnessed Byakuya drawing his zanpakuto on Ichigo, who had barely gotten his own zanpakuto up to block the strike. "No-" she whispered, watching in helpless confusion as the two went at each other.

The Espada cursed under his breath, flinging the taller man away. "I don't have time for this, shinigami." he spat. "I have to stop Aiz-"

"Then why are you carrying my sister like she's your new hostage?" Byakuya growled, stabbing at the other.

"I wasn't-" Ichigo's eyes widened in pain as he felt a new wound open on his cheek, barely clipping his mask. "I-I'm trying to help her!" he turned to Rukia, eyes wide and panicked. "Tell him!"

"Brother, he's right! He's trying to stop Aizen- he isn't like the other Espada, he's more like us than I care to admit-" she blinked, seeing the captain pin his sword through Ichigo's right hand. "STOP!" Ichigo huffed, wincing at the sword stabbed through his hand. His blood was coloring the sand around him red. He had no doubt in his mind that he could have destroyed the soul reaper with his new powers, but he was saving them for stronger opponents. Opponents like Ulquiorra and Aizen.

Byakuya faced Rukia, "Why were you with him?"

"He's trying to help us-"

"What did you mean he's like us? We don't have anything in common with monsters."

"He's not all Hollow. His soul is split," she saw Ichigo's eyes widen with suprise, "he's still half human and therefore shinigami in nature because of his powers, and Hollow because I failed him." She left out the part about his Quincy heritage. "And there's a reason he looks like Kaien, Nii-sama. His ancestry is Shiba clan-"

"So that's why you want to save him. Because he reminds you of Kaien." Byakuya sighed.

Ichigo blinked, looking back and forth between them. "Look, I don't know about any of that. How many captains are here? Because Aizen's going to wreak havoc in the living world without you there protecting it." He yanked the sword out of him and flexed his hand as it healed quickly. He threw the sword at Byakuya who caught it and stared at him. "I'm going to stop Aizen, help or not." His reiatsu flared and he sped away from the two, headed for Aizen's throne room.

Rukia stood slowly, walking towarda Byakuya, eyes downcast. "Please, Brother, I'm sorry. I just want to find Orihime."

"Then find her alone."

The sands stretched out endlessly before her, and she bit back the tears as she flash-stepped towards a familiar spiritual pressure, hoping it was Chad, Ishida, Renji or even better, Orihime.

xxx

He hoped that the girl had enough sense to stay back and not get in his way. And also to keep an eye on that blue-haired arrancar. With this current fight, he wasn't sure that he could manage to chase the other down while fending off attacks. Kenpachi hadn't had to remove his eyepatch in a long time. He wasn't used to opponents that were strong enough to really give him a good workout. It was exciting to know that there were still people out there for him to fight. Kenpachi clashed with the tall lanky Number 8, giving the arrancar hell.

It was absolutely great.

He was bleeding, but it didn't slow him down. No, it only made him more excited. The Espada was bleeding too, and breathing hard. He had claimed that the Soul Reaper would never be able to cut him, not with his hierro, but that was proven false. Since then, he had unleashed his Resurrecion form, and was still struggling. Finally the shinigami managed to catch the other off guard and swung upwards, taking an arm off the arrancar.

Nnoitra cursed and narrowed his eyes, before unleashing his hidden arms, each armed with their own blade, and the lost one regenerating. Kenpachi laughed, he was really enjoying this. Still chuckling lowly, he placed both hands on his sword.

"Did you know, arrancar? A two-handed strike is more powerful than all your six one-handed strikes." With a screech, the Espada lurched towards him, but Zaraki leapt into the air and brought the sword down, slicing the arrancar nearly in half.

Orihime gasped and looked away, sick to her stomach. She hadn't liked Nnoitra at all, he was really creepy and perverted, but she still felt terrible seeing his injuries. Next to her on the sand, Grimmjow let out a chuckle. "Bastard was askin' for it." he growled, staring up at the sky. "He should've known better than to attack a captain, with his only being Numero Octava." He sat up slowly, one hand wrapped around his waist. While the girl had healed his body, she had not replenished his reiatsu. He was in no shape to fight a captain either.

Kenpachi Zaraki wiped the length of his blade off with a tattered piece of his sleeve he had torn off, and walked over to the two sitting a ways off. "Yo, girl. Time to go." he narrowed his eyes at the arrancar. "And you, Espada. I don't know what your deal is, but you're coming with me as well, can't have you starting a fight with one of my weaker companions."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "I don't have anything against ya, shinigami, I just want the chance to take over Hueco Mundo while Aizen's getting his ass whooped in the living world."

The soul reaper's eyes widened and he grabbed the front of the arrancar's jacket, holding him up off the ground. "What was that about Aizen?"

Jagerjaquez blinked, a snarl forming on his lips. "You didn't know? Aizen's headed to the living world. He wants to destroy Soul Society or some shit and needs living souls to do it. He just kidnapped the girl because he knew it would draw some of you here. Oh and because she was periodically supposed to heal the Hogyoku. Don't know if he actually did that or not-oof!" He groaned when his back hit the sand, the shinigami having thrown him to the ground.

"Girl. We're getting everyone and leaving, now." He scooped up Orihime and turned to go when he felt a hand on his ankle.

"And just how're you going to get back, huh? You can't open a garganta on your own." Grimmjow growled.

Zaraki grinned. "That's right, we need you to do that for us." Grimmjow's eyes widened and he was plucked off the sand and thrown over the bigger man's shoulder like a sack of flour. "Let's go."

xxx

Toshiro watched as the Head Captain gave orders to the lower level-shinigami he had brought with the remaining captains. It was ingenious really, to transport the entirety of the real Karakura town to Soul Society, thereby protecting the living souls there. Actually, what was more incredible was the fact that Ukitake and Kyoraku were able to figure out what Aizen was planning. With a little help from the banished Urahara Kisuke, no less...

He glanced over at where the two ex-soul reapers stood in the sky, looking just as ready to battle Aizen as the captains were. Urahara in his ridiculous hat and clogs, and Yoiruichi with her long purple hair streaming behind her.

A sudden flicker of movement off to his left made him turn his head. There, in the distance, he could sense different spiritual pressures than he had ever felt before. The Head Captain turned that way as well, and sighed.

"How nice of them to join us."

Whoever they were, Toshiro hoped they were here to fight. He wasn't sure that he was strong enough to take down-

And then the sky split apart.

XXX

Wow the reviews thing worked better than I thought it would. Thank you so much! Can I make that a thing now? I'll update for every five reviews I get. It doesn't even have to be on this chapter, just five reviews in general. But please keep your reviews relevant to this story! Thank you so much to the guests reviewing, I'd love to respond to you but I can't. If you want to see that fanart I mentioned, check out my deviantart under the name narutard277. It's not much, but I'm working on the progression of Ichigo's masks throughout this story. Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/favoriting and most especially reviewing!


	35. Chapter 35

Ichigo froze, eyes wide. Something was wrong. _Very wrong_. Aizen's presence usually hung over Las Noches like a thundercloud, and suddenly it seemed like the skies had brightened.

Aizen was _gone_.

Which could only mean that he had gone into the living world, taking his two companions with him.

He bit his lip, cursing. He didn't know how many Espada were still left in Las Noches, but he was sure that Aizen wouldn't leave it unprotected, especially not with Soul Reaper captains on the loose.

He went full speed ahead, his sonido carrying him to the palaces with ease. He paused by his own place, seeing it was still intact before glancing over at the Sexta's. It was devastated.

He had no idea what could have happened here. It was unlikely that-

A cold hand on his shoulder made him tense up immeadietly, and he turned slightly to find emerald eyes gazing at him coldly.

"Quinto." Ulquiorra spoke softly. "How good of you to turn up at the last minute. You can help me destroy the intruders and that traitor Grimmjow."

"Grimmjow, a traitor? Not likely." He turned to face the Cuatro fully, eyes narrowed. He was lucky that his eyes were still yellow-

"What happened to you?" The other backed up a step, eyes widening slightly. He raised one hand to point at Ichigo's chest and that's when he remembered.

 _His hole had closed up._

"Ulquiorra, I-"

"Just what are you?" the Cuatro whispered, drawing his zanpakuto with an easy, fluid motion.

 _Shit._

xxx

He stiffened in the shinigami's grasp, suddenly going rigid. Orihime gave him a worried look from Kenpachi's opposite shoulder, and she tapped on his back lightly. "Kenpachi-san, I think we should stop for a moment."

"Eh?" the big man halted his flash step, kicking up sand all around them. He set the two down in front of him, and looked back and forth between the arrancar and the human girl. "Something the matter, Espada?" he growled.

Grimmjow's eyes were wide and he had a rather blank look on his face. "Aizen..." Orihime bit her lip and stepped slightly closer to the arrancar when his head shot up and he grinned. "Oh you're in for it now, shinigami. Aizen's gone to the living world." He stared at his hands and clenched and unclenched his fists. "If only my reiatsu was back up to full power, then I could take over-" he stopped and blinked, a confused look replacing his confident sneer. "Kurosaki?"

Orihime didn't have a chance to ask what that meant before Kenpachi had whacked the arrancar on the head with the hilt of his sword, the Espada falling face-first to the sand. "Bastard was getting too cocky, and he's still a prisoner." the shinigami offered in explanation when she stared at him. "Come on, we have to find the others and get out of here."

"O-of course, Kenpachi-san."

xxx

She had wandered inside one of the structures, still sensing that almost familiar spiritual pressure. She froze as a single figure stood before her, the silhouette burned into her mind. At first she thought it was Ichigo, but then he stepped into the light.

"Kaien?" she whispered, eyes wide with shock. "K-Kaien? Is that you?"

The man grinned at her, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the side slightly-just like she remembered-"Hello, Rukia. It's been a while, huh?"

xxx

The pink-haired freak was just messing with them now. Renji was sure of it. _Really, who leaves their enemy in the middle of a battle to go and change clothes? And then comes back and just jumps right back into it again? It was ridicuolous._

His bankai had no effect and Ishida had been struggling as well. At least they had managed to finally break out of that room, but, he supposed, it didn't really matter now that they were both dying.

How had they even gotten into this mess in the first place?

The first problem was when they had gotten separated from Chad and the Hollows. Ishida suspected foul play, and Renji had to agree. Walls and hallways didn't just shift on their own.

He coughed up more blood as another one of his organs was crushed in the Espada's grasp. He had long stopped paying attention to the rambling villian speech coming from the arrancar, instead focusing on trying to breathe without pain. Yeah, that wasn't working.

He thought he was delusional when he heard a familiar drawl coming from behind him, but a glance upwards told him that he wasn't hearing things. Well, maybe he was just seeing things too. _Oh well._

He really did hope that that was the 12th captain coming to save them.

xxx

He couldn't find the Espada anywhere. He had attempted to follow him, but his flash step was just too slow compared to the sonido the other was using.

The captain stopped mid-air and glanced around the sands before seeing a figure he didn't recognize. He dropped down to the sands and put one hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto.

A large number 10 was inked onto the arrancar's skin and Byakuya felt a slight boost of confidence. This was the weakest Espada.

 _Or so he thought._

XXX

Wow! When you guys have incentive to review you don't disappoint! I'll keep this up, ok? I would like to see some more thought-out reviews, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. And only 4 more this time, since an extra one got slipped in there before I could update! But on the topic of updating: I write as I go, so I can't always update instantly when we hit 5. Most likely, give me a 24 hour grace period, and if it happens to be shorter or longer, well...I do have a life sometimes xD

Meep! So I've altered quite a bit as we keep going. I really really really like Grimmjow's character, so he's sticking around with us. Sorry this is so much shorter compared to the previous two updates, but it's a lot of buildup to the next chapter and I promised an update today. But hey! We're about to get right in the middle of a few very important battle scenes!


	36. Chapter 36

Kira Izuru stared. He had a job to do, yes, but he couldn't help but stare. After all, it was his former captain standing right there-right within his grasp. He couldn't help it.

A hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Shuhei shaking his head slightly. "Just...try not to think about it too much, alright? Hopefully they'll see the truth."

The blond bit his lip and shrugged the hand off. "We'll see." They separated, each to their own pillar to protect, and waited.

They didn't have to wait long. His opponent arrived screaming and saying something about rituals and demanding for him to do the same. To which he simply replied "No."

"I've been paired with a coward." the arrancar cursed, spitting at him. "Fine. Abirama Redder. Fraccion to Lord Barragan."

"Kira Izuru. Lieutenant of the Third Division." He stiffened as the arrancar began laughing out loud.

"The Third?! So that creep Ichimaru was your captain! Does it hurt, knowing that Ichimaru must have abandoned you for your coward-" he blinked, feeling the blood drip from his cheek.

"Don't use that name so lightly around me," Kira growled lowly.

"Ah. So you can fight after all. Good." he grinned. "Your battle face. I will erase it."

There was no more speaking after that. Just strikes back and forth, each pushing the other to thier limit. Finally, he praised his good luck. Those ridiculous wings were only going to hurt the arrancar in the end. And they did prove to be his downfall. On the ground, the arrancar cursed at him.

"You dirty shinigami, playing tricks on me! That's no way for a true warrior to fight!" he struggled to move. "Just what does your odd zanpakuto do anyway?!"

Kira clenched his hand around the hilt of Wabisuke. "It doubles the weight of anything it strikes." he lowered himself to the ground slowly.

"Dirty bastard! Cowardly piece of shit!" the bird-man snarled, shrinking away from the blond man.

"You treated war like a game." he walked closer to his foe. "War is not a game. It's depressing and there's nothing exciting about it. Nothing." he paused as he stood behind the arrancar, eyes cold. "You want to know why Wabisuke is the best representation of this? Why it is the way it is?" he hooked the zanpakuto around the other's throat.

"No-no, please, wait-" Abirama pleaded, eyes wide.

"A warrior does not beg."

A swift movement and the wind stirred limp feathers.

"Don't forgive me."

The silence was deafening.

xxx

He turned as he felt Ikkaku's reaitsu dwindle to almost nothing, and with a sinking feeling he realized that Ikkaku had lost.

Yumichika clenched his fists and choked down a sob, instead focusing on his anger. He rushed forward to Ikkaku but found that hisagi was blocking his path.

"Move!"

"No. You can't do anythin-"

"Get the hell out of my way." his eyes flashed dangerously cold. "He needs my help."

"You're not thinking straight, if Ikkaku was beat, how do you think you would fare any better?"

The Fith seat cursed and dashed forward when he felt a slight prick on the back of his neck and fell forward in Hisagi's arms. "No, please." he murmured before closing his eyes.

Hisagi looked up to see Kira and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "He'll be alright when he wakes up."

"Of course."

xxx

The head captain had used Jokaku Enjo to trap the three traitors. It was a good move, she thought, eyeing up the arrancar that had come through the garganta. Besides the three top Espada, there were their underlings-Urahara had said they were 'fracciones'. The older Espada had laughed at their tactics, saying that he would send his four dragons to combat their four ants. She had no time to be worried about Ikkaku and the rest, they could handle themselves. Instead, she figured, best to get rid of the other small fry so that the actual Espada could be defeated.

Sui-Feng tapped her lieutenant on the shoulder.

"Let's go."

Time to get those fracciones out of the way.

xxx

Ukitake sighed, looking over at the girl swinging her legs off the roof of the building. She was clearly powerful, no question. But her relationship to Starrk he still couldn't figure out. He looked up as Shunsui was chuckling and smiled slightly. He was glad that the other was enjoying this battle for the time being.

It also seemed that the Primero was...not as bored? The girl had said that because thier power was so strong that Starrk didn't do much more than sleep. It must be at least a little bit exciting that he was participating in a fight-and from what Juushiro could tell, they were pretty evenly matched, though the fact remained that neither of them were taking it seriously at all.

He coughed again and the girl turned to him questioningly. "Are you sick?" she leaned away from him slightly, as if afraid she would catch whatever it was he had.

He gave her a tired smile. "Have been for years. Nothing to be worried about Lilynette."

"Oh." her vibrant magenta eyes widened a little. Whispering, she asked, "Are you dying?"

"Not yet."

xxx

 _The girls were safe._

That's what he kept telling himself.

 _The girls were safe._

He curled his fingers into fists and took in a deep breath before detaching himself from his physical body. He hadn't felt like this in years. Not since... _well._

Isshin leaned his head back against the wall of his replicated home, dreaming. _If only he had gotten to go to Soul Society with the girls, then he might've found Masaki..._

But no. Kisuke had asked for his help, and by God was he going to give it all he had.

After all, the girls were safe.

XXX

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day! Here's hoping you're in a healthy relationship or being happily single. You know, unlike me, who's not happy being single...

Well! I'm going to change this just a little this time, it's driving me crazy that the numbers are all over the place- So instead of 47, I'm going to push it a little and ask for 50, that way I can always know when to update depending on if it ends in -5 or -0. Sorry if that seems a little much but hey. Also...wow you guys review for updates. Like seriously, I'm getting a little overwhelmed. And that's awesome! But I do have classes and projects to balance with my social life and my Internet life, so updates are going to slow down. I'll still try to post within the next 24 hours but more likely it'll be 2-3 days, we'll see.

So... This was so much fun to have all that buildup for those fights and then throw this at you out of nowhere. XD Now you guys really do have to review to hear about Ichigo's fight. Ha. I'm great (not). But! You need to remember this is all simultaneous, so...

I like Kira. I hope you guys like Kira. I feel like he went through a lot, and really let his character be known fighting Redder. I remember it as a very emotional episode for me.


	37. Chapter 37

He was _not_ the weakest of the Espada. Byakuya could hardly believe it when the arrancar shifted forms to become well, a _monster._ This was ridiculous. Not even his bankai could do much damage to the beast, he was shocked to discover. And Yammy was surprisingly fast for being such a huge thing.

He wasn't going to be able to defeat this one by himself.

But from the faint spiritual pressures he could sense, it seemed his comrades had their own battles they were dealing with. And then _he_ was standing in front of him.

Byakuya would almost rather suffer alone than accept _his_ help.

But there was no telling Kenpachi "no".

xxx

Suffering, he didn't witness most of the battle. He was trying his hardest not to move. Even breathing hurt. Did that pink haired bastard crush his lungs? He didn't remember exactly. All Ishida knew was pain. And then the pain stopped briefly. First, he thought he had died. Then he shifted slightly, and the pain reminded him of what life felt like.

So what had stopped the pain?

The quincy didn't really recognize the blurry shapes fighting above him. But the butterfly thing had to have been the arrancar... which meant that the other was on their side. He thought he recognized a captain's cloak.

And then...

...nothing.

He opened his eyes slightly and realized the ground was moving underneath him. A glance to the side gave him a glimpse of Abarai's red hair.

And then the pain took over once more.

xxx

The arrancar had coaxed her into a false sense of security. She sat across from Kaien, eyeing him with a mix of confusion and wonder.

Rukia sat still, leaning forward slightly as she listened to Kaien's tale of how he had become...this.

She almost believed it. She wanted to believe that it was really _him_ sitting in front of her. But she couldn't.

That nagging feeling of unsettlement never left her, and so she couldn't help but do the one thing she had never thought of doing again, not even in her darkest nightmares.

She had to kill Kaien _again_.

Now it was just a matter of working up the courage to strike first when the other was least expecting it.

xxx

Orihime blinked, Kenpachi was gone. Just suddenly, gone. She lowered herself down to the sand slowly, hugging her knees close to her chest. The captain would have had a good reason for leaving them, right? They would be ok here...alone...right?

A flash of movement made her look up, and she scrambled backwards. Suddenly there were people surrounding them-a man and a woman she didn't know and-she gasped at Ishida and Renji's still forms, but before she could move, the woman shook her head.

"It's all right, girl. My name is Unohana, I'm the captain of squad 4. I'm a healer. They're safe with me." the woman smiled at her, gently, and Orihime felt herself relax a bit. The woman knelt next to her friends and began healing them both, while the other- a captain, she assumed- stood watch a few feet away from them.

"Thank you, Unohana-san," she murmured softly, watching as the color returned to her friends' faces.

The shinigami nodded and cast a glance towards the still form of the arrancar next to her. "Is he a threat?"

She opened her mouth to start to explain when Grimmjow slowly sat up to glare at them both. She flinched away from his gaze. He blamed her for Kenpachi's actions, she just knew it. "You better believe I am." he growled lowly, before he closed his eyes and leaned against Orihime's back. She held perfectly still, not wanting to disturb him. "I'm always a threat." he whispered. She smiled slightly to herself and shook her head 'no' as Unohana frowned.

xxx

He wasn't the same. It was painfully clear, from his appearance to his spiritual pressure, Ichigo wasn't the same.

It was unfair, Ulquiorra thought.

Nnoitra had been number five, and then his spat with Nelliel had gotten him demoted and some of his spiritual pressure had been stolen from him. Ulquiorra still wasn't sure how Aizen had done that. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. But he understood Nnoitra's reasoning for hating Ichigo. Grimmjow hated Ichigo because he had wanted the number 5 spot for himself. Ulquiorra understood that too. What he didn't understand was why he hated Ichigo himself. The Cuatro suspected it was because he had worked so hard to become powerful. He had trained and risen through the ranks, and then one day, Ichigo had just _appeared_ , sporting a glaring number 5 on his left shoulder. A new arrancar, seated right underneath him with no effort to get there. Just a little favortism from the ex-shinigami. But even still, his position wasn't threatened by Ichigo, so why did he hate him?

He knew why, now.

Ichigo was so much more than he could ever be. He had transcended his hollow state.

It wasn't fair.

He couldn't help but be defensive when he saw that Ichigo was no longer hollow.

And so he did whatever any animal would do when they felt like they had been backed into a corner.

He attacked.

xxx

The beast was even more exhilarating than his last fight.

Kenpachi grinned, darting back and forth all over the huge arrancar, dealing small wounds here and there, wounds that he knew would just provoke the beast even more.

And then it happened. He was caught. The darkness closing in on him made him chuckle, and he tilted the zanpakuto slightly before lashing out.

The roar of pain and the sudden release from his prison caused him to throw back his head and laugh out loud, watching as the fingers fell to the sands with a 'thud'.

He cast a glance back towards the pretty boy, and smirked to find him staring wide-eyed.

Then the arrancar was yelling something at him and he focused once again on his opponent.

Maybe he should visit Hueco Mundo more often.

It was a lot more interesting here than in Seireitei.

XXX

Hello my lovely readers! I'm back for the month of October, just like last year- a chapter a day! Some may be shorter than others, I do have uni classes to keep up with, after all. If I don't wrap up the story at the end of the month, then the rule stands as such: I will update for every five reviews posted! If you want to read my other Bleach fic, it's Grimmichi. If you want to read about my life (kinda) check out Hollow-it's FMA AU. I'm working on a few other things at the moment, like my old Death Note LxLight fic, I Scream You Scream. Also working on a Kakavege fic that I can't wait to post! As always, thanks for faves/follows/and reviews!


	38. Chapter 38

He was content no more to bow to the old man's will. With a slight movement, the force field surrounding them shattered. He could feel all eyes dart toward him, but he was not ready yet to actually join the battle.

However.

Gin and Tousen were now free to do as they wished.

Aizen grinned slightly and spoke but one word.

"Go."

xxx

When Yumichika regained consciousness, he was furious at Kira and Hisagi. But then they stepped aside, and there _he_ was.

He held his best friend close to his chest. He didn't know who had defeated the enemy that Ikkaku couldn't beat but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

The third was dying.

In his arms.

And he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Kira stood next to him, shifting from foot to foot, and watching their surroundings carefully. Hisagi was gone, off to fight the next opponent.

But it didn't matter.

His hands curled tighter in Ikkaku's clothes.

And then the bright light of healing surrounded them both, and he looked up to find Hanataro doing his best to save Ikkaku.

He let out a sigh of relief and laid the third down, before stretching out next to him and resting his eyes.

They would be ok, it seemed.

xxx

The air was filled with tension. You could almost smell it. Well, he _could_ actually. Komamura turned his amber eyes toward his old friend, and felt a growl rise in his throat.

And then Hisagi was by his side, a defiant glare in his own eyes.

He glanced towards the lieutenant, and nodded.

They charged, together.

xxx

The atmosphere changed suddenly, tension crackling in the air. He looked to the side to see that Aizen had sent out Gin and Tousen, briefly following their forms before turning back to the battle before him. Juushiro bit his lip.

Stark had finally decided it was time to be serious.

He had called Lilynette to him, and with a sinking feeling, the white-haired captain watched as Kyoraku readied himself for the _real_ fight.

He just didn't want him to die.

He didn't think he could bear it.

xxx

She coughed, choking on her own blood. The fracciones had managed to do a number on her, despite her best efforts. She glanced over to the side, witnessing her lieutenant fighting bravely but she knew that he was no match for them.

And then she swooped over the top of them.

Long purple hair streaming behind her.

Sui-Feng didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or shout in anger.

Too bad she couldn't actually do any of those things.

The blood kept coming.

The darkness closed in on her vision.

And then she felt movement.

She coughed again, opening her eyes to see none other than the green-and-white hat above her.

 _Stupid…_

 _Bastard._

xxx

Kensei growled lowly in his throat.

 _Where were they?_

 _They should have been here by now!_

He kept checking the surrounding area, hoping for their safe return.

 _Hopefully the arrancar brat would be with them._

 _They could use his firepower._

And yet, no sign of Shinji, Hiyori, or Ichigo.

Aizen was standing right there—they were so close! His hands curled into fists and beside him the other Visored shifted uneasily.

"I can't take it anymore!" he spat, eyes narrowing. He shot forward, only to screech to a halt as a swirling mass of a garganta opened in front of him.

His eyes widened as people he didn't know stepped through—Soul Reaper captains…a girl…a Soul Reaper…a-was that a Quincy? And the one to have opened the garganta- a blue haired arrancar, smirking and looking like he owned the place.

"So, what'd we miss?"

He could hear the arrancar's damn chuckle across the sky.

XXX

I'm sorry it's so short, I have to write a paper and I keep putting it off…Okay so it's been a while (like, a year) since I've seen this anime so I may have things that seem really far off from canon. But it's fanfiction and the whole lineup has changed anyway, so it doesn't really matter? As long as I can write something believable in context you guys will forgive me, right? Anyways... Did I fake you out once again my readers? I keep putting off Ichigo's fight with Ulquiorra XD I know that's what everyone wants to see. I'm building up the tension, that's all! And WHAT? Grimmjow opens a garganta for the Soul Reapers, Orihime, and Ishida? What's going on here?! Tune in next…tomorrow, for the answer!


	39. Chapter 39

She stared, not believing him, and watched as the arrancar slowly rolled his shoulders and stood up. "Sure, I'll open a garganta for ya."

Orihime looked back and forth between Grimmjow and the captain… Mayuri, wasn't it? The painted man had asked the arrancar to do it…and Grimmjow had said yes.

She couldn't quite quell the bad vibes. She looked over to Ishida and Renji, now recovered and ready to fight again, it seemed, and back to Grimmjow. He had been healed by her own powers, after Unohana had instructed her to do so. She thought that the soul reapers would want him weakened, but it didn't seem that way now.

With a shrug of his shoulders the Sexta opened the inky portal, and then Mayuri was ushering them all into it. She wondered briefly about Rukia, Kenpachi, and Byakuya, but then she was shoved forward, and the sands disappeared from her view.

Grimmjow grinned at her as she clung to his arm, and then suddenly she was blinking in the sunlight.

The Espada grinned, cocked his head toward the ongoing battle and said, "So, what'd we miss?"

xxx

They had forgotten him.

He couldn't sense reiatsu, not really, but he saw them leave.

Saw them leave with an arrancar, of all things.

He sighed and glanced down towards the green-haired girl still clinging to his leg.

She had done that ever since Pesche and Dondochaka had disappeared.

Chad sighed and scooped her up in his arms, heading towards the huge arrancar-monster. There were still captains present—he stopped when the two blondes appeared in front of him.

"You-you're human?!" the girl growled, looking him over.

"Huh, must've been part of that shinigami's rescue party." The other mused, taking in the human holding the arrancar. "Say…you haven't seen an orange-headed arrancar-ish guy, right?"

Chad blinked, confused.

And then the world erupted in ice.

xxx

It was done.

He was gone.

Again.

She hadn't wanted this.

But she had to do it.

And it was done.

And she couldn't take it anymore.

Rukia screamed, releasing all her pent-up emotions into her zanpakuto's strike. The final strike to remove his face from her memory.

And the world grew colder.

xxx

"Dammit." Shinji muttered, flicking off ice crystals. He glanced towards Hiyori, seeing her do the same.

Then he looked to the human boy and the arrancar girl…No. Wait. Something was wrong.

The little girl was not so…well, _little_. Not anymore.

She growled at him lowly, holding the human close to her before laying him gently down on the ground.

"If you hurt him, I will kill you." She murmured, before disappearing with a flash of sonido.

Shinji blinked.

"Well, now what?"

xxx

He felt them leave. He felt them, and he didn't care.

The beast was finally down.

Down for the count, and then gone in a spray of ash.

He glanced towards Byakuya.

"So pretty boy. Were you entertained?"

The other huffed and glanced away, and Kenpachi was about to laugh when he saw the other go stiff.

Just what was it now—?

Oh.

He could _feel_ that.

He dropped to a knee, body tensing up. He saw the other captain collapse to the ground as well.

Just _who_ … _what_ …what was _this_?

xxx

Time seemed to have stopped.

They didn't notice.

Clash here, there, there, they were everywhere.

And nowhere.

They had elevated.

They had started with zanpakuto, as was customary. It quickly progressed into their Resurrecion forms.

And now this.

Ichigo was bleeding, holding Zangetsu out in front of him, eyes glinting with anger.

Ulquiorra was in much the same state, hand pressed to his shoulder where the Quinto had managed to slice him deeply.

And then they were _more_.

It happened so quickly.

Ulquiorra shifted first, wings sprouting and emerald eyes glaring. Ichigo gasped as he felt the other's reiatsu pressing him downward.

A nagging at his mind begged him to let go. And so, for once, he did. Without considering the consequences.

A rush of power entered him, and he let the Hollow take over, body shifting to match the new strength of his opponent.

He screamed, his own spiritual pressure now resounding forth, and he charged.

They met in the air.

The world vanished beneath them.

XXX

Sorry it's short and so very sorry I fell behind. So this was for the 3rd, meaning I have 3 more chapters to get caught up on. Uni classes have gotten super busy and stressful. I'm trying though! Thank you for all the faves/follows/reviews!

Oh and I actually did forget about Chad, poor thing. Also Nel. Anyone else? Ummm…we'll see?


	40. Chapter 40

Aizen's eyes narrowed at the blue-haired arrancar who had brought along reinforcements for the shinigami. This wasn't going according to plan, at all. He had known that Grimmjow was not loyal to him, but he didn't think that he would go and betray him like this. He should've known the other would use the chance to try and take over. But if that was the case…then why was Grimmjow here instead of Hueco Mundo?

He didn't know. He supposed it didn't matter all that much.

He would just kill them all anyway.

xxx

Rukia slowly opened her eyes, staring up at the massive ice crystal that had erupted from her zanpakuto. She sat up, clutching at her head. She felt absolutely drained, all of her strength had gone into that last attack.

And then she felt it.

A massive amount of dark energy emanating from somewhere up above her.

Some of it reminded her of that boy, Ichigo. But the other…the other was incredibly inhuman.

 _What the hell was going on?_

She rose towards the blue 'sky', stepping outside and blinking into the sun.

She glanced to her left and gasped, finding Chad unconscious on the sand, and the two Visoreds standing over him.

"You-you!"

"Relax shinigami, it wasn't us." The girl called Hiyori snapped, glaring at her. "But it doesn't matter anyway, we're all properly fucked."

Rukia blinked, taking one step backwards at the coarse language. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Shinji sighed, turning towards Rukia with a defeated look in his eyes. "Well, it seems Ichigo's gone and lost himself. And he was our only hope in getting out."

The soul reaper blinked and sat down on the ground, trying to take it all in. She was just opening her mouth to speak, when suddenly Kenpachi and her brother appeared in front of them. They looked…terrible.

"We have to get away from here right now." The 11th captain growled, scooping Chad up quickly.

"What? Why?" she stuttered, wincing as her brother picked her up in his arms.

"Because I don't feel like dying today," Byakuya murmured quietly, "and I don't want you dead, either."

She was about to ask what was meant by that when the first wave hit them.

xxx

The beast growled lowly in his throat and Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes.

This…thing…wasn't Ichigo anymore.

It wasn't Ichigo. And it wasn't Hollow. It wasn't anything he'd ever seen before.

It was terrifying.

It was hard to make a Hollow scared. Fear was a human emotion. And Ulquiorra prided himself on not being subject to those.

Except that he feared for his life, now.

He darted in and out, slicing at the beast with his claws, but nothing seemed to have any effect on him.

Finally, he decided, he would just blast it with a cero.

And it might would have worked, if he could get close enough.

Suddenly there was a clawed hand grasping his throat, and he struggled to breathe.

The beast cocked its head and the Cuatro could swear he heard the thing chuckle at his demise.

And then there was a blinding red light, a shrieking wail, and immense pain.

As he crumbled into ash, he thought of the human girl.

All he could hope was that she had survived this mess. She really didn't deserve to be involved in the first place.

xxx

She wasn't going to make it in time. She knew that as soon as she had felt Ichigo's reiatsu change. There may be no getting him back, after this.

She knew that, and still she charged in. She had to try. For everyone's sake. For Chad's, for the girl's, for her friends', and even for Ichigo himself.

After all, he had been one of the few Espada not to look down on her after her incident with Nnoitra.

Granted, it could be because he was uninformed, but she didn't think that was the case.

No, she had felt the good in him long ago. That bright energy, the energy that didn't belong to a Hollow. But right now, that energy was dim, and growing duller by the minute.

Nel cursed and dashed upwards, eyes widening as she saw Ulquiorra fade away, grasped in the hand of a monster.

"Kurosaki?" she whispered, one hand hovering over her zanpakuto.

The thing-that-was-Ichigo turned towards her slowly, a predatory movement—calculated and careful. It growled lowly, lowering its head and tilting sharpened horns towards her.

"Ichigo, you have to calm down now." She said calmly, voice even. "Ulquiorra is dead, and Aizen is in the living world. You need to snap out of it."

The beast opened its mouth and hissed at the mention of the ex-shinigami's name, crouching and tensing its muscles, as if prepared to leap at her. Involuntarily, she took a step back, hand landing on the hilt of her zanpakuto.

"Ichigo," She tried again, voice on the verge of breaking. "Don't you want to fight him? Aizen? I'm no threat, and I'm not the one you want."

A flicker of recognition flashed in the soulless yellow eyes, and the beast straightened up, cocking his head at her. "Nel?" the gravely voice made her heart beat wildly, and she nodded.

The thing faltered, grabbing at its head and falling to its knees. The reiatsu around it pulsating violently.

Nelliel's eyes went wide and she barely had time to cover her ears before the screaming started.

The resulting energy hit her hard, sending her flying.

 _All was darkness._

 _Rage, hatred, sorrow, guilt, fear, regret._

The emotions swallowed her.

XXX

Wow. I failed y'all. Utterly failed. Um. Sorry about that. University decided to kick my ass with the workload. I will finish out this story as soon as I can (read-as soon as I get inspired). Like I've said before, I plan to end after the Aizen arc, but of course I'll try to tie everything up. I might leave it somewhat open-ended for a sequel, but I highly doubt I will be writing one. Maybe someone else can write the sequel if they want? Idk. We'll see. Anyway, I sincerely apologize. Check out my other fics though—especially Hollow, Issues, and Overwhelmed.


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